European Union dioxin limits should not give false comfort

EPA director Larry Stapleton (Irish Examiner letters, November 11) said that in my letter (Irish Examiner, October 31) I ignored the fact that dioxin levels in Ireland were low compared with the EU limit.

This may be true, but it shouldn't give us any false comfort. If Mr Stapleton had attended the oral hearing in Cork he might have learned something new about these EU limits and be less inclined to rely on them.

For example, he would have heard expert medical evidence from Dr Gavin Ten Tusscher, paediatrician, scientist, and a member of the EU technical group on bio-monitoring of children, state that harm was occurring to children even under permitted licence conditions.