Chemical cocktail party in East Greenland: A first time evaluation of human organohalogen exposure from consumption of ringed seal and polar bear tissues and possible health implications

Abstract

East Greenland polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are among the mammals with the highest bioaccumulated concentrations of organohalogen contaminants (OHCs). Since Greenlanders in this region ingest significant quantities of adipose tissue from polar bears and also ringed seals (Pusa hispida), initial conservative estimates of the daily oral exposure to this chemical cocktail are thus presented. The tolerable daily intake was exceeded approximately five-fold for polychlorinated biphenyls and chlordane pesticides and metabolites, while the estimated daily toxic equivalent (TEQ) (based on the 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-rho-dioxin toxicity equivalence factors) for East Greenland subsistence hunters was three- to ten-fold higher than the WHO ∑TEQ guidelines even though the estimations were conservative. The daily oral OHC exposure from polar bear and ringed seal blubber consumption is markedly high and needs to be reduced in order to remove this co-factor with respect to the influence on the development of chronic diseases. Furthermore, it is warranted that a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model for Greenlander's exposure to OHCs is constructed and that risk quotients calculated to estimate the threats to health for East Greenland subsistence hunters.

Keywords:

• Arctic
• blubber
• endocrine disruption
• exposure
• Greenlanders
• polar bears

Acknowledgments

The Lundbeck Foundation, Danish Cooperation for Environment in the Arctic (Dancea), Prince Albert II Foundation, and The Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland (KVUG) are acknowledged for financial support. No conflicts of interest were reported.