German Free-Range Eggs Contaminated With Dioxin

Germany has called for higher environmental standards on farms after free-range eggs were found to be tainted with the cancer-causing chemical dioxin. Eggs with higher than permitted dioxin levels were found in past months in several German states because free-range hens were permitted to roam on farmland contaminated with chemicals, according to German media reports. "We must use a firmer environmental policy to ensure that dioxin levels are reduced and that it vanishes from our environment," Agriculture Minister Renate Kuenast said in an interview with the newspaper Berliner Zeitung on Monday. Kuenast said that the consumption of such eggs will not cause any acute disease. She has urged the state governments to intensify the checks on free-range eggs and remove any dioxin contaminated ones form the market immediately.