The Arctic is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska, Canada, Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. The land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover, with predominantly treeless permafrost (permanently frozen underground ice) containing tundra. Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places. The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth's ecosystems. The cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous people have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions. Life in the Arctic includes zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants and human societies.
The Arctic Dilemma: Indigenous peoples of the Arctic, diet and long-range transport of contaminants
Owing to their traditional way of life, and reliance on foods obtained from fishing and hunting, indigenous peoples of the Arctic are especially vulnerable to contaminants present in the Arctic environment. From long-range transport from rest of the World, persistent pollutants are present in the food-chains of the Arctic and gets accumulated at the top level - in animals such as whales and seals. A change in diet to imported foods create a new set of problems, including a loss of traditions, reliance on outside support and nutrient deficiencies.
Human exposure to anthropogenic contaminants is now a well-known phenomenon in the Canadian Arctic. Early work conducted on Baffi n Island and in Nunavik has demonstrated that because of their traditional dietary habits (Dewailly et al., 1989; Dewailly et al., 1993; Kinloch et al., 1992; Muckle et al., 2001), Inuit populations are exposed to environmental contaminants by eating their traditional foods, and their infants are exposed through transplacental and breast milk transmission from the Inuit mother.
Th e two main groups of contaminants that may affect human health are the heavy metals (e.g., mercury), and the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs], DDT, and other pesticides). POPs form a class of persistent organic pollutants including polychlorinated dibenzo p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), PCBs, and various chlorinated pesticides or industrial products. A new generation of POPs has recently been found in the Arctic food chain. These new chemicals include the brominated flame retardants, in particular polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and the perfluorinated alkane compounds (PFAs). These new POPs were first measured in freshwater and marine organisms, then subsequently in Inuit foods. Furthermore, there is also concern because the levels of all these substances are increasing. The high lipophilicity and resistance to biodegradation of POPs allow their bioconcentration and prolonged storage in the fatty tissues of animals. As the Inuit diet is comprised of large amounts of tissues from marine mammals, fish, and terrestrial wild game, the Inuits are more exposed to food chain contaminants than human populations living in temperate regions In Nunavik, an epidemiological study conducted from 1989–1991 investigated whether organochlorine exposure was associated with the incidence of infectious diseases and immune dysfunction in Inuit infants (Dewailly et al., 2000b). The number of infectious-disease episodes during the first year of life of 98 breast-fed and 73 bottle-fed infants was determined. Concentrations of POPs were measured in early breast-milk samples and used as surrogates for the prenatal exposure levels. Otitis media (middle-ear infection) was the most frequent disease, with 80 percent of breast-fed and 81 percent of bottle-fed infants experiencing at least one episode during the fi rst year of life. However, the risk of otitis media was significantly increased with a history of prenatal exposure to dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and dieldrin. The relative risk for the 4- to 7-month-old infants most exposed to DDE was twice that of the less exposed infants. Furthermore, the relative risk of recurrent otitis media (i.e., three or more episodes) increased with prenatal exposure to these compounds. Therefore, prenatal and breast-milk exposures to the POPs was associated with an increased risk for infection in this Inuit population.
A second study investigated the effect of prenatal exposure to PCBs and DDE on the incidence of acute infections in Inuit infants. The medical charts of a cohort of 199 Inuit infants during their first 12 months of life were reviewed, and the incidence rates of upper and lower respiratory tract infections, otitis media, and gastrointestinal infections evaluated. Maternal blood plasma during delivery and infant blood plasma at seven months of age were sampled and assayed for PCBs and DDE. Compared to the rates for the less exposed, the infants whose mothers had the highest levels of PCBs and DDE at their birth had generally a 30 percent excess of infections during their first six months of life. Th ese results demonstrated a possible association between prenatal exposure to organochlorines and acute infections early in life in this Inuit population, and supported previous findings (Dallaire et al., 2004).
Arctic Canada is one of the largest undeveloped terrains remaining in the world, and is in many ways unique. The ecological balance of the region is more delicate than tropical or temperate regions of similar size. This region is likely to be developed by research for and production of resources, primarily petroleum, in the immediate future. As well as sensitive terrain surface caused by permafrost in some areas, many large and small mammals and birds are also in a delicate balance with the environment. Small changes in this balance can have large effects.
The probability of finding petroleum in different regions varies widely, but already there are good indications on the mainland and in the Islands that bath oil and gas are present. Geophysical work in the offshore, particularly the Beaufort Sea, suggests further promising potential. Possible reserves in the Islands and mainland Arctic may amount to 50 or more billion barrels.
A responsible approach to problems facing exploitation in an Arctic environment includes the careful monitoring by industry of likely effects of their activities. The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Research Association test loop at Inuvik providesan example of such monitoring. Outside Canada the operations at Prudhoe Bay on the north coast of Alaska show how major companies may operate responsibly and reduce environmental interferenceto a minimum. Nevertheless, four variables must affect any decisions to be made concerning energy resource exploitation in the Arctic. These are man's need for energy, economic and industrial pressures to develop energy sources, the desire to preserve a deteriorating environment, and the role of Government as representing all individuals in the country and their several points of view. Factors that must be taken into account in making any decisions include the importance of Canadian oil in a world picture, the need for alternative sources of energy in the near future, the depletion of nonrenewable resources at an accelerating rate. and the increasing awareness that the major problems facing man have no direct technical solution, and that social or political decisions must precede further technological development.