Toxic Chemicals Poisoning Arctic Wildlife – Governments Must Ratify and Implement International Toxics Treaty

“Arctic wildlife is paying the price for the lack of controls on toxic industrial chemicals and pesticides,” said Samantha Smith, director of WWF’s International Arctic Programme. “By failing to turn off the tap at the sources of such chemicals we may be dooming some of the world’s unique species to a fate of slow poisoning.”

The report, Arctic Pollution 2002, was prepared by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) – the co-ordinating body for arctic contaminants research — and is endorsed by World Wildlife Fund.

WWF is calling on all governments, especially Russia and the US, to ratify and implement the Stockholm Treaty, which mandates the elimination of 12 of the most highly persistent and toxic chemicals ever produced. Russia and the US are circumpolar nations that are both sources of, and are affected by, persistent organic pollutants (POPs).

Toxic chemicals are carried north to the Arctic by wind and water currents where they accumulate to higher and higher levels through the arctic food chain. Canada was the first country to ratify the Stockholm Treaty and has banned most of the targeted POPs, but has a long way to go before the Treaty is fully implemented. “Coasting on past achievements might get Canada kudos at international meetings but polar bears and people in the Arctic aren’t fooled – they are still full of toxic chemicals,” said Julia Langer, WWF-Canada’s Director for International Conservation. “Action to eliminate POPs from commonly used pesticides, to appropriately destroy PCBs, and to ratchet down industrial and municipal sources of dioxins and furans is urgently needed in Canada.”

The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), which represents Inuit in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia, is concerned by the report’s findings. “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 recent increase in levels of organic mercury levels in wildlife 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.

Many arctic species, including polar bears, whales, seals, glaucous gulls and peregrine falcons, carry high levels of POPs. WWF-Canada is currently working with Inuit in three Nunavut communities (Arviat, Coral Harbour and Pangnirtung) to assess the health status of wildlife in relation to toxic chemicals.