[CH] info
Lukasz Speer (radomvis35@midcoast.com.au)
Thu, 07 Aug 2003 18:18:30 +1000
Barbecue cancer warning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3106039.stm
A health hazard?
Barbecues poison the air with toxins and could cause cancer, research suggests.
A study by the French environmental campaigning group Robin des Bois found that a
typical two-hour barbecue can release the same level of dioxins as up to 220,000
cigarettes.
Dioxins are a group of chemicals known to increase the likelihood of cancer.
The figures were based on grilling four large steaks, four turkey cuts and eight
large sausages.
This amount of cooking was found to release 12-22 nannograms of dioxins into the
atmosphere.
The researchers also found that the average concentrations of dioxins in the
vicinity of the barbecue ranged from 0.6 to 0.7 nannograms per cubic metre - up to
seven times higher than the level authorised for public incinerators at the point of
discharge from the chimney.
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