http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1002-03.htm
Published on Wednesday,
October 2, 2002 by the lndependent/UK
Arctic Pollution Causing Polar Bears to
Change Sex
by Charles Arthur
Polar bears, Arctic foxes and Inuit peoples are under threat from
man-made toxins such as polychlorinated byphenyls (PCBs) that
build
up in the food chain, new research reveals.
Environmental and animal
groups are calling for a global ban on the
production of the chemicals to safeguard the future health of
those
groups. Some scientists believe the PCBs are leading to "gender-bender"
polar bears in Norway and Greenland, after the discovery of a
number
of female bears which had both male and female sexual organs.
The report, produced
by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program
based in Norway, said the toxins followed air and water currents
from
as far as Asia to the remote and fragile Arctic environments of
North America, Greenland and the Svalbard islands north of Norway.
"Inuit in Greenland
and Canada have among the world's highest
exposures to certain toxic chemicals as a result of long-range
transport," said the report, Arctic Pollution 2002
(http://www.ngo.grida.no/wwfap/core/newsroom/stories2002/10/1.html
See below for copy of this web page).
The toxins, including
potentially cancer-causing PCBs, build up
in the food chain, especially in fatty tissue such as blubber
in whales and seals. Blubber, being high in energy, is a key part
of the diet for polar bears and the indigenous people of the Arctic.
Samantha Smith, the
director of the International Arctic Program
for the World Wildlife Fund, which has endorsed the study, said:
"Those at the top of the food chain are hit hardest, and
those
are polar bears and humans.
"Most of these
chemicals come from outside the Arctic, including
the southern hemisphere, and are carried by wind and water currents.
Without a global ban, we can't protect indigenous peoples and
wildlife in the Arctic."
In a separate study,
female polar bears with both male and female
sexual organs were discovered in 1997 on Norway's Svalbard archipelago,
about 300 miles (500km) north of the Norwegian mainland. Researchers
at the Norwegian Polar Institute now believe the deformity may
be
due to PCBs and other toxins.
Ms Smith said similar
hermaphrodite bears had also been found on
Greenland. Such instances have previously been put down to the
effects of accumulated PCBs. Though they are not believed to
have the same effect in humans, they are thought to be carcinogenic.
Arctic foxes, seals,
killer whales, harbor porpoises and birds
also suffer high levels of contamination by persistent organic
pollutants that damage the nervous system, development and
reproduction.
PCBs are chemical compounds
that do not occur naturally;
they were once widely used in plastics and electrical insulation
and can be produced by incomplete combustion of plastics.
It can take decades for them to break down. Their use is now
largely banned in the West.
The Arctic Monitoring
Program also said levels of organic
mercury, which can harm health and even cause death, had
risen alarmingly, partly due to increased burning of coal
in South-east Asia.
The Inuit Circumpolar
Conference, which represents Inuit
peoples in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia, expressed
concern at the report's findings and called on Arctic
governments to work together to help protect the health
of indigenous people.
In May, the WWF warned
that polar bears could disappear from
the wild within 60 years due to global warming, which it
said was already causing numbers to dwindle. The pack ice,
which the bears need to travel long distances for food,
has been thinning as temperatures rise, leading to fears
that it will eventually be too thin to let them travel.
When that happens, the population of about 22,000 could
die out.
© 2002 lndependent
Digital (UK) Ltd
###
For more details see,
the Arctic Pollution 2002 report...
http://www.ngo.grida.no/wwfap/core/newsroom/stories2002/10/1.html
1 October 2002
Toxic chemicals a major threat to the Arctic - WWF
Download the Arctic pollution 2002 - AMAP Report: (pdf)
(each chapter below
is a PDF file)
Preface
(99 KB)
Chapter 1: Setting the stage
Chapter 2: Human health
Chapter 3: Heavy metals
Chapter 4: Changing Pathways
Chapter 5: Persistent Organic Pollutants
Chapter 6: Radioactivity
Gland, Switzerland
- Arctic wildlife and some Arctic
indigenous people, particularly Inuit, are contaminated by
industrial pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), pesticides and insecticides, according to a report
released today by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment
Programme (AMAP), and endorsed by WWF, the conservation
organization.
The AMAP's new report
Arctic Pollution 2002 demonstrates
that Inuit in Greenland and Canada have among the world’s
highest exposures to certain toxic chemicals as a result of
long-range transport. The study also reveals that polar bears,
Arctic fox, seals, killer whales, harbor porpoises, and birds
such as glaucous gulls and peregrine falcons, are among the
Arctic species contaminated with the highest levels of
persistent organic pollutants (POPs). POPs are known to
damage the nervous system, development and reproduction,
and are able to travel great distances. In order to combat the
threat they pose, WWF is calling on Russia and the US to
ratify the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
Pollutants, a new international treaty which will phase out and
ban some of the most dangerous pollutants. Several other
Arctic rim countries, including Canada, Norway, and Sweden,
have already ratified this important convention.
"Most of these
chemicals come from outside the Arctic,
including the Southern hemisphere, and are carried to the
Arctic by wind and water currents," said Samantha Smith,
director of WWF’s International Arctic Programme. "Without
a
global ban, we can’t protect indigenous peoples and wildlife
in the Arctic. The US and Russia need to stop ignoring the
scientific evidence and ratify the Stockholm Convention."
According to the report, the arctic species with the highest
levels of POPs are already showing adverse effects. For
example, researchers have linked POPs levels to reduced
immune system function, and increased rates of infection, in
polar bears and fur seals. WWF believes that the use of toxic
industrial chemicals results in slowly poisoning some of the
world’s unique species.
The Inuit Circumpolar
Conference (ICC), which represents
Inuit in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia, is also
concerned by the report's finding. "Inuit call on all Arctic
states to work together in global meetings to protect the
health of Arctic residents, and to renew and expand scientific
programmes on contaminant threats to the health and way of
life of Inuit and other Arctic indigenous peoples," said
Sheila
Watt-Cloutier, ICC chair.
One of the alarming
issues highlighted in the report is the
increase in levels of organic mercury found in some parts of
the Arctic. The trend is primarily due to increased burning of
coal for energy production in South-east Asia, showing once
again the tight links between the Arctic - as a recipient of
pollutants - and the rest of the world.
