Evaluation of the Population Distribution of Dietary Contaminant Exposure in an Arctic Population Using Monte Carlo Statistics

• Main Authors: Hing Man Chan, Peter R. Berti, Olivier Receveur, Harriet V. Kuhnlein
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Population
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.277.1466

Contaminants such as organochlorines and heavy metals are found in the Arctic environment as a result of long-range atmospheric and oceanic transport and local mining activities (1). Potential health effects on indigenous peoples are a concern because humans are at the top of the food chain and some of these pollutants are known to bioaccumulate (2,3). Results of preliminary dietary exposure assessment and maternal cord blood monitoring studies showed that some groups of indigenous people are exposed to high levels of contaminants such as toxaphene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlordane, mercury, and cadmium from the consumption of traditional