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Hundreds of activists are coming together this week at UC Berkeley to discuss ways to save communities from dioxins, a chemical which the Enviornmental Protection Agency and others say causes birth defects, cancer and other illnesses. 

The four-day-long People’s Dioxin Action Summit was coordinated by a number of environmental groups from around the country and is hosted by San Francisco’s Greenaction. It began Thursday afternoon and wraps up Sunday morning in various buildings on the university campus. The goal is to educate many about dioxins and have those people get the word out to others. 

“The focus is to come up with strategies that incorporate everybody’s viewpoints,” said Susan Chiang, director of Greenaction. “The goal is to eliminate dioxins.” 

Next week, Dioxin 2000, an annual international conference will be held in nearby Monterey. There, many of the top scientists from around the world will discuss their research and the latest information on dioxins.  

The summit in Berkeley was held this week so that many of those scientists can attend both events. 

Robert Shimek, an indigenous person who lives on the White Earth reservation in Minnesota, said that low income communities suffer the most from dioxin pollutants because of their limited resources and education on the subject. 

“This education is especially important for the indigenous people, because of our cultural practices and ceremonial practices we are at higher risks,” said Shimek, a special project coordinator from the Indigenous Environmental Network. “Getting fish, for example; we were instructed by our elders to catch fish, and they were instructed by their elders, and so on. The fish are contaminated by various pollutants, including dioxins.” 

Many indigenous people also live in poverty, and are not able to stay away from dioxin-filled products or are unable to learn more about dioxins. While this puts them at a higher risk of being affected by dioxins, it is also a reason for those attending the summit to learn about the chemicals and teach the lower income communities. 

Dioxin is a by product of industrial processes that uses chlorine, including bleaching paper, manufacturing petroleum and producing some plastics. 

Most people consume dioxin in their diets, as it is most commonly found in meat and dairy products. It enters plants and animals through the air and water and moves along the food chain. 

“It is really great to see all these activists and health agencies talk about poisons in the air and talk about solutions,” said Charlotte Caldwell, an organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network, attending the summit from Bemidji, Minn. 

Over 350 people from more than 20 different countries are participating in the workshops and tutorials, many of which cover how to do research on dioxins and to inform others about dioxins. Today there will be several strategy sessions on minimizing the release of dioxins, where everybody is encouraged participate. 

“I took a class on using the Internet to research health issues, and it was very interesting,” Shimek said. “The more we educate ourselves, the better off we will be.”