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Dioxin risk assessment: mechanisms of action and possible toxicity in human health

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Abstract

Dioxin-like compounds (DLCs) have been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the most persistent toxic chemical substances in the environment, and they are associated with several occupational activities and industrial accidents around the world. Since the end of the 1970s, these toxic chemicals have been banned because of their human toxicity potential, long half-life, wide dispersion, and they bioaccumulate in the food web. This review serves as a primer for environmental health professionals to provide guidance on short-term risk assessment of dioxin and to identify key findings for health and exposure assessment based on policies of different agencies. It also presents possible health effects of dioxins, mechanisms of action, toxic equivalency factors (TEFs), and dose–response characterization. Key studies related to toxicity values of dioxin-like compounds and their possible human health risk were identified through PubMed and supplemented with relevant studies characterized by reviewing the reference lists in the review articles and primary literature. Existing data decreases the scope of analyses and models in relevant studies to a manageable size by focusing on the set of important studies related to the perspective of developing toxicity values of DLCs.

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Acknowledgment

The authors’ gratitude goes to support of University Malaya High Impact Research grant (HIR) with project number UM.C/625/1/HIR/270 and RP014B-15SUS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Seyedeh Belin Tavakoly Sany, Rosli Hashim & Aishah Salleh

  2. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, University Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Majid Rezayi

  3. Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County, 3629 Queen Palm Drive, Tampa, FL, 33619-1309, USA

    David J Karlen

  4. Department of Food Chemistry, Research Institute of Food Science and Technology, P.O. Box: 91735-147, Mashhad, Iran

    Bi Bi Marzieh Razavizadeh

  5. Advanced Materials Research Group, Institute of Hydrogen Economy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, International Campus, 54100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Ebrahim Abouzari-lotf

  6. Malaysia–Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Ebrahim Abouzari-lotf

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  1. Seyedeh Belin Tavakoly Sany
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  2. Rosli Hashim
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  3. Aishah Salleh
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  4. Majid Rezayi
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  6. Bi Bi Marzieh Razavizadeh
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  7. Ebrahim Abouzari-lotf
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Correspondence to Seyedeh Belin Tavakoly Sany.

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Tavakoly Sany, S.B., Hashim, R., Salleh, A. et al. Dioxin risk assessment: mechanisms of action and possible toxicity in human health. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 19434–19450 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5597-x

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