"Farmers and the food industry are asking the Obama administration to ease coming federal guidance that will advise consumers to minimize their intake of dioxins, chemicals that may be harmful at certain levels."

"The standards would, for the first time, set a limit on how much dioxin Americans can be exposed to and still be safe. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to release the guidelines in January.

Dioxins are a byproduct of paper, metal and cement production, but the primary source of exposure for people is food. Meat and dairy products in particular absorb the chemicals, which are ubiquitous in the environment and get into what livestock eat, especially if the animals graze. When ingested at high levels, dioxins are linked to human reproductive problems, acute skin conditions and cancer."

Bill Tomson reports for the Wall St. Journal January 4, 2012. [2] [Note: most WSJ content is normally available only to paid subscribers; you can get an "article free pass" for the full text of this article by putting the headline into the Google search field and accessing it via the resulting link.]