[The establishment of tolerable intake levels and the current situation of the risk assessment of dioxin and related compounds].

In 1999 the Japanese Government implemented the Dioxin Counter-Measure Law, which based on a tolerable daily intake (TDI) of dioxin and related compounds of 4 pg-TEQ/kg/day. We here review and explain how the TDI was established by the joint advisory board organized under the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Environment Agency, based upon the available scientific findings at that time. We also report on the current dioxin risk assessment situation, focusing upon re-evaluation of the toxic equivalency factor scheme, which has been discussed in the most recent international scientific conferences.