title: Levels and trends of contaminants in humans of the Arctic.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada; jennifer.gibson@hc-sc.gc.ca.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.affiliation: Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Adlard
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Olafsdottir
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Torkjel Manning
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Sandanger
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Jon Øyvind
authors.initials: JØ
authors.lastname: Odland
mesh_terms: D001110:Arctic Regions; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000032:analysis; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D006801:Humans; D006842:Hydrocarbons, Brominated / Q000032:analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D005466:Fluorocarbons; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D006842:Hydrocarbons, Brominated
keywords: Arctic; POPs; biomonitoring; contaminants; metals; pregnant women