Persistent Organic Pollution (POP)
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are human created compounds (synthetic chemicals) such as DDT and PCBs, developed to benefit pest control (DDT) and industry (PCBs). However, the continual use and subsequent release of these chemical into the environment has had an unforeseen effect on human health and the environment. Because POPs are easily transportable by wind and water, their use in one part of the world can pollute other parts of the globe and their inhabitants where POPs might not be present. This is true for the Arctic region and its peoples.
Recent studies show that POPs are accumulating in fat tissue of fish and larger marine animals often eaten by the Arctic people. Contamination of the Arctic food chain is of major concern for people who have been living subsistence lifestyles for thousands of years because even low levels of POPs in the environment can lead to high levels in the body tissues of animals and humans. For many POPs, the level in fat increase as one animal eats another, so that the highest levels of POPs are often found in larger predator animal such as polar bears, seals, toothed whales, birds of prey and humans, this is called bioaccumulation. In general, the Arctic region and it inhabitants are absorbing the worlds waste and as a result, the Arctic is becoming slowly poisoned over time.
A recent study conducted by the Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) found that contaminates in wildlife and people of St. Lawrence Island Village, Alaska had slightly elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in their blood mostly derived from subsistence diets rich in fish and marine mammals. While the study concluded that the PCB ranges in the St. Lawrence Island residents were within the expected range for a population with a healthy northern substance lifestyle centered on fish and marine mammals, the source of the PCB exposure is directly related to global contamination through the food chain.
Because of the problems POPs pose to the world, many countries including the United Sates are trying to directly address this issue. To address this global concern, the United States joined forces with 90 other countries and the European Community to sign a groundbreaking United Nations treaty in Stockholm, Sweden, in May 2001. Under the treaty, known as the Stockholm Convention, countries agree to reduce or eliminate the production, use, and/or release of 12 key POPs. For more information or to learn more about the 12 key POPs, please visit the following websites:
http://www.epa.gov/oiamount/toxics/pop.htm#resources
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/essay_calder.html
http://www.nativescience.org/html/contaminants.html