Dioxins are absorbed primarily through dietary intake of fat, as this is where they accumulate in animals and humans. In humans, the highly chlorinated dioxins are stored in fatty tissues and are neither readily metabolized nor excreted. The estimated elimination half-life for highly chlorinated dioxins (4–8 chlorine atoms) in humans ranges from 4.9 to 13.1 years. The persistence of a particular dioxin congener in an animal is thought to be a consequence of its structure. Dioxins with no lateral (2, 3, 7, and 8) chlorines, which thus contain hydrogen atoms on adjacent pairs of carbons, can more readily be oxidized by cytochromes P450. The oxidized dioxins can then be more readily excreted rather than stored for a long time.
Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins
Polychlorinated naphthalene
Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds
Polychlorinated dibenzofurans
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
Organobromine compound
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers
Polychlorinated biphenyl