People aren’t cows, so the milk dioxin test fails to impress residents

THE recent report by the EPA which showed a doubling of dioxin levels in the Ringaskiddy samples is hardly good news.

But more disturbing is the attempt by the EPA and other parties to downplay its significance because levels in other areas of Cork harbour have fallen, and because it isn’t as high as Europe allows it to be.

The EPA report said the sample was taken from a tanker, and that cows were used because they “tend to graze over relatively large areas,” so it wasn’t as if it was taken from a single cow grazing on 10 square feet of grass. It was a valid representation of the area it was taken in. People in and near Ringaskiddy aren’t one bit impressed, and these people aren’t quite as lucky as cows.