Automobiles emit 250 times more dioxin than previously thought : Automobiles annually discharge 17 grams of highly toxic dioxin in the country--a rate 250 times higher than that previously estimated by the government, according to a recent survey conducted by Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies. Direct exposure to that amount of dioxin would be enough to kill 14 million guinea pigs, scientists said. Ten years ago, a group of researchers at Kyoto University's Engineering Department estimated the total amount of dioxin discharged from automobiles annually to be 0.07 grams. The government has been employing this figure in calculations of dioxin emissions from traffic.