Levels and trends of persistent organic pollutants in human populations living in the Arctic

Abstract

The Arctic Monitoring Assessment Program (AMAP) is tasked with monitoring and assessing the status of environmental contaminants in the Arctic, documenting levels and trends, and producing science-based assessments. The objectives of this paper are to present the current levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) across the Arctic, and to identify trends and knowledge gaps as detailed in the most recent AMAP Human Health Assessment Report. Many Arctic populations continue to have elevated levels of these contaminants, and the highest levels of POPs were observed in populations from Greenland, Faroe Islands, and Nunavik (Canada), as well as populations in the coastal Chukotka district (Russia) for legacy POPs only. Concentrations of most POPs are declining in Arctic populations in regions where time trends data exist, although the declines are not consistent across all regions. The exceptions are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, with concentrations of some long-chain PFAS such as perfluorononanoic acid increasing in populations in Nunavik, Greenland and Sweden. This paper provides a more extensive summary of levels of contaminants in adults, pregnant women, and children across the Arctic than previous AMAP human health assessments, particularly for levels of long-chain PFAS, which are currently under consideration for inclusion in the Stockholm Convention.