Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to an extent exceeding the limit allowed by European law in eggs from 23 out of 30 farms. These are the first alarming results of the monitoring plan of the Ministry of Health which provides for the verification of the presence of contaminants in eggs and milk in the 57 polluted sites of national interest (7 in Lombardy).
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Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) to an extent exceeding the limit allowed by European law in the eggs of 23 out of 30 farms. These are the first alarming results of the monitoring plan of the Ministry of Health which provides for the verification of the presence of contaminants in eggs and milk in the 57 polluted sites of national interest (7 in Lombardy).
With the sample analyzed by the Local Health Authority of Lombardy it emerged that carcinogenic substances have been found in 76% of the Lombard industrial or artisanal farms in excess of the limit allowed by European law (5 picograms for each gram of fat). The eggs contain dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in 23 chicken coops between Milan, Sesto San Giovanni and the Province of Monza Brianza, in 15 farms in Cerro al Lambro (MI) and in 9 in Mantua and surroundings (three in the city, two in Bigarello, one in San Giorgio, Porto Mantovano, Marmirolo and Borgoforte).
Il monitoring on rural farms it is part of the three-year control plan planned by the Ministry of Health to assess the presence of contaminants in food of animal origin (eggs and milk) produced in the areas with the greatest environmental impact identified as Sites of National Interest (SIN). By the end of the year it will also be completed in the areas of Milan Bovisa, Pioltello-Rodano and Brescia-Caffaro.
Already last year, however, in a chicken coop in Ospitaletto (BS) which offers zero-kilometer products and stands a stone's throw from a steel mill, almost double the limits imposed by European legislation were found.
For this the MEP Andrea Zanoni, member of the ENVI Commission on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety in the European Parliament, speaks of health alarm.
“The results of the checks released are troubled. Poisons of all kinds arrive on the tables of citizens. Eggs contaminated with carcinogenic substances, such as dioxin, are foods that our children consume and that mothers have always served safely, especially if they come from rural and non-intensive farms that offer zero-kilometer products. Now, however, there is no longer even this security, because the hens live in contaminated land near industrial centers ", denounces the MEP.
As is well known, in fact, they are the free range hens, compared to those of breeding, to be the most sensitive indicators of a possible environmental pollution, because they scratch on land exposed to the fallout of airborne pollutants. What to do?
The ASL imposes the ban on the consumption of eggs from irregular farms for 120 days, which is the scientific term sufficient to break down Pcb and dioxin if the animals are kept in optimal breeding conditions, that is, away from polluted land. It will be enough?
Roberta Ragni
