Dioxin Warning

Women and especially young girls should be eating less meat, whole milk and other dietary fat that may expose them to dioxins, according to a recent report by a health advisory panel. And the government should be getting the word out, according to the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences.

Discovered in the 1970s, dioxins are industrial pollutants that lodge in animal fat via contaminated soil. They are known to increase the risk of cancer and alter hormone production in both men and women. Dioxins are especially dangerous for young girls whose bodies accumulate the pollutants over time. The dioxins can harm infants in utero and through breast milk.