Levels and trends of contaminants in humans of the Arctic

• Published in: International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Main Authors: Jennifer Gibson, Bryan Adlard, Kristin Olafsdottir, Torkjel Manning Sandanger, Jon Øyvind Odland
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; contaminants; biomonitoring; POPs; metals; pregnant women; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; AMAP; Arctic Council; Circumpolar Health; International Journal of Circumpolar Health
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.33804; https://doaj.org/article/f04b444efd604492a74bc719d5f574d2

The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) is one of the six working groups established under the Arctic Council. AMAP is tasked with monitoring the levels of contaminants present in the Arctic environment and people as well as assessing their effects on a continuous basis, and reporting these results regularly. Most of the presented data have been collected over the last 20 years and are from all eight Arctic countries. Levels of contaminants appear to be declining in some of the monitored Arctic populations, but it is not consistent across the Arctic. Most Arctic populations continue to experience elevated levels of these contaminants compared to other populations monitored globally. There are certain contaminants, such as perfluorinated compounds and polybrominated diphenyl ethers, which are still increasing in Arctic populations. These contaminants require more investigation to find out the predominant and important sources of exposure, and whether they are being transported to the Arctic through long-range transport in the environment.