SOLVED:A continuing debate in public health circles concerns the dangers of being exposed to dioxin, an environmental contaminant. A German study published in the October 19, 1991, issue of The Lancet, a British medical journal, considered records of workers at a herbicide manufacturing plant that made use of dioxin. A control group consisted of workers at a nearby gas supply company who had similar medical profiles. The following data relating to the number of workers who had died from cancer w