Seveso accident

Seveso accident

An industrial accident that occurred in 1976 at a chemical plant in Seveso, Italy, which manufactured pesticides and herbicides, in which the town and surrounding areas were exposed to a dense vapour cloud containing tetrachlorodibenzoparadioxin (TCDD, or dioxin), a poisonous and carcinogenic by-product of an uncontrolled exothermic reaction.