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The Seveso disaster was an industrial accident that occurred around 12:37 PM on 10 July 1976, in a small chemical manufacturing plant approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Milan in the Lombardy region of Italy.

It resulted in the highest known exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD) in residential populations, which gave rise to numerous scientific studies and standardized industrial safety regulations, including the European Union's Seveso III Directive. This accident was ranked eighth in a list of the worst man-made environmental disasters by Time magazine in 2010.

The Seveso disaster was named after Seveso, the community most affected, which had a population of 17,000 in 1976. Other affected neighbouring communities were Meda (19,000), Desio (33,000), Cesano Maderno (34,000) and to a lesser extent Barlassina (6,000) and Bovisio-Masciago (11,000). The industrial plant, located in Meda, was owned by the company Industrie Chimiche Meda Società Azionaria (Meda Chemical Industries S.A., or ICMESA), a subsidiary of Givaudan, which in turn was a subsidiary of Hoffmann-La Roche (Roche Group). The factory building had been built around 30 years earlier and the local population did not perceive it as a potential source of danger; they were unaware of what was being manufactured there. Moreover, although several exposures of populations to dioxins had occurred before, mostly in industrial accidents, they were of a more limited scale.

The accident occurred in the chemical plant's Building B. The reaction temperature was achieved by passing the steam exhaust from the onsite electricity generation turbine through an external heating coil installed on the chemical reactor vessel.

A 2008 study evaluated whether maternal exposure is associated with modified neonatal thyroid function in the highly exposed population in Seveso and concluded that environmental contaminants such as dioxins have a long-lasting capability to modify neonatal thyroid function after the initial exposure. The male children of mothers who were, during pregnancy of those children, exposed to high levels of toxic dioxins due to the Seveso disaster, have been found to have lower-than-average sperm counts. This result of the underlying Seveso study has been noted to provide the most pronounced evidence for prenatal exposure to an environmental chemical causing low sperm counts.

On 25 November, over nine years after the disaster, the Roche Group issued a public statement that the toxic waste consisting of 42 barrels (one was added earlier that year) had all been incinerated in Switzerland.

Industrial safety regulations were passed in the European Community in 1982 called the Seveso Directive, which imposed much stronger industrial regulations. The Seveso Directive was updated in 1996, 2008 and 2012 and is currently referred to as the Seveso III Directive (or COMAH Regulations in the United Kingdom). The entire site has been turned into a public park known as Seveso Oak Forest Park. While it has been established that people from Seveso exposed to TCDD are more susceptible to certain rare cancers, when all types of cancers are grouped into one category, no statistically significant increase has yet been reported in any specific cancer category. She was two years old and lived in Seveso when the disaster happened, and spent her career studying industrial accidents.

"Suffocation," the fifth track on the dystopian concept album, See You Later, by Vangelis, is inspired by the Seveso disaster and features an emergency announcement in Italian to take shelter and a dialog between a man and woman set during the unfolding of the disaster. Directive 96/82/EC, also known as the "Seveso II Directive" Directive 2012/18/EU, also known as the "Seveso III Directive" Loss Prevention Bulletin The Seveso Disaster: An appraisal of its causes and circumstances, Marshallvagri, V.C., LPB Issue 104, April 1992, IChemE, UK. Dioxin: Seveso disaster testament to effects of dioxin, article by Mick Corliss, May 6, 1999. July 9, 1976 British Health & Safety Executive COMAH information page on the Seveso Disaster.

Quick Facts

• The Seveso disaster was named after Seveso, the community most affected, which had a population of 17,000 in 1976.
• It resulted in the highest known exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD) in residential populations, which gave rise to numerous scientific studies and standardized industrial safety regulations, including the European Union's Seveso III Directive.
• Directive 96/82/EC, also known as the "Seveso II Directive"
• The Seveso Directive was updated in 1996, 2008 and 2012 and is currently referred to as the Seveso III Directive (or COMAH Regulations in the United Kingdom).
• The male children of mothers who were, during pregnancy of those children, exposed to high levels of toxic dioxins due to the Seveso disaster, have been found to have lower-than-average sperm counts.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Seveso disaster". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.