Scientists trace Arctic pollution to US

OCTOBER 4, 2000

On Tuesday, scientists announced a new study in which they tracked down the source of dioxin pollution in the Arctic, with much of it coming from the United States.

The Center for the Biology of Natural Systems at Queens College in New York tracked down the source of dioxins using a program developed by the government. Based on data over a one-year period from 1996 to 1997, waste facilities in the US were responsible for between 70 and 82 percent of dioxins deposited through the air at eight locations in Nunavut.

Nunavut is the autonomous Inuit territory created in Canada in 1999. It was chosen because for the study because no significant sources of dioxin are found within the territory or within 300 miles (500 km) of its boundaries.

But more significantly, the indigenous population in the Arctic and the ecosystem on which they depend is seriously threatened by dioxin pollution. For example, dioxin concentrations in the milk of Inuit mothers are twice the levels reported in southern Quebec.

Scientists trace the high levels in humans to contamination to the traditional foods of the Inuit, and of other populations in the Arctic, including Alaska. High-fat animals such as caribou, fish, and marine mammals are commonly consumed, leading to a potentially deadly dosage of dioxins.

Since dioxin tends to build up in the fat of both animals and people, Native people typically carry twice as much dioxin as those in southern Canada and the United States. Yet the report points out that almost all of the dioxins in Nunavut come from these two countries.

"The data generated by this project directly supports the conclusion that the known occurrence of dioxin in Nunavut -- in the indigenous population, in the regional food chains, and in marine and terrestrial ecosystems -- is due to . . . dioxin transported from distant sources, which are chiefly in the United States, to a lesser extent in Canada, and marginally in Mexico," says the report.

Some types of dioxins have carcinogenic and toxic properties that can cause serious health problems. These include problems in reproductive health, developmental health, and acne.

Dioxins are created in many situations, from waste incineration to metal refining to bleaching of pulp. Municipal waste incinerators account for 25 percent of dioxin, backyard trash burning for 22 percent, and cement kilns burning hazardous waste for 18 percent, according to scientists.

Since the food chain cannot be protected from being contaminated by dioxins, pollution has to be curbed at the source.

Read more on the Report:
Tracking dioxins to the Arctic (Paul Miller. Trio. North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation. Fall 2000)

Get a Summary of the Report:
Long-range Air Transport of Dioxin from North American Sources to Ecologically Vulnerable Receptors in Nunavut, Arctic Canada (North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation October 2000)
For Internet Explorer Users:
Long-range Air Transport . . . (North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation October 2000)

Relevant Links:
Dioxin and Related Compounds, from the Environmental Protection Agency - www.epa.gov/ncea/dioxin.htm
Dioxin Homepage - www.enviroweb.org/issues/dioxin/index.html
Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, Queens College - www.qc.edu/CBNS