Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented a    
comprehensive review of the scientific literature in its 2003 draft    
reassessment of the risks of dioxin, the agency did not sufficiently    
quantify the uncertainties and variabilities associated with the risks, nor    
did it adequately justify the assumptions used to estimate them,    
according to a new report from the National Academies' National Research    
Council.   
   
The committee that wrote the report recommended that EPA re-estimate    
the risks using several different assumptions and better communicate the    
uncertainties in those estimates. The agency also should explain more    
clearly how it selects both the data upon which the reassessment is    
based and the methods used to analyze them.   
   
Copies of HEALTH RISKS FROM DIOXIN AND RELATED COMPOUNDS:    
EVALUATION OF THE EPA REASSESSMENT are available to purchase    
from:   
   
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11688.html   
   
There is a 6-page briefing PDF (free) from:   
http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/di ...   
   
The original EPA draft reassessment of the risks of dioxin can be viewed    
at:   
http://www.epa.gov/ncea/pdfs/dioxin/na ...