Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 09/00) - Chemical-belching incinerators and smelters in the United States and Mexico are responsible for one of the most toxic forms of contamination in Northern foods, according to a report released last week.

Using Nunavut as a study area, the report focused on the movement of dioxins, a group of chemicals linked to birth, brain and reproductive defects as well as cancer.

Dioxins are among the contaminants that have been detected in the fat of animals such as seals, walrus, caribou and fish, as well as the breast milk of Inuit mothers.

Nunavut was used in the study because it produces virtually no dioxins. The study, paid for by the Montreal-based North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, stated that 0.02 per cent of the sources of dioxins in Nunavut are located in Nunavut.

Using computer modelling to track how the airborne chemicals are spread by weather patterns, the study identified 44,000 sources of dioxins -- such as factories, refineries and incinerators -- that appear in Nunavut.

The U.S. is home to 62 per cent of those sources and another 30 per cent were located in Mexico.

Those statistics only confirm what most scientists have known since the early '80s, said Inuit Circumpolar Conference president Sheila Watt-Cloutier.

The most important part of the study is the development of a computer model that can track contaminants back to their source, Cloutier said.

"This gives us a tool to work with to perhaps replicate this study for (the tracking) of ... PCBs and DDT, which are in much higher concentrations, end up in our country food," said Watt-Cloutier.

Nothing to fear, yet

Dioxins are one of many contaminants present in the Northern food chain.

"Dioxins and furans (which are very similar to dioxins) are a very small part of the overall risk picture," said Carol Mills, manager of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs contaminants division. "PCBs and DDT are here in much bigger amounts."

Mills said current levels of contamination in Northern food pose no threat to human health.

"Traditional food is still the healthiest food to eat," Mills said. "Contaminants are not reaching levels to be of concern to human health. What would be a concern to human health is if we stopped eating these foods, both nutritionally and culturally and socially."

That was echoed in another Northern Contaminants Program study that assessed the health risks posed by contaminants.

"It's my opinion that it's not sufficiently a threat that people should immediately stop eating all their traditional food," said Harriet Kuhnlein of the Centre for Indigenous Peoples Nutrition, project leader for the study. "It's a very complex issue."

Looking for a new deal

Watt-Cloutier said it is important not to underestimate threat of contaminants pose to the Inuit.

"These levels of dioxins, particularly down in Nunavik, have been shown to be twice that of people living further south. Many of us Inuit exceed the level of concern defined by the Canadian federal department of health."

The report was released at an opportune time for ICC and other groups looking to stop the contamination of the North.

The final round of negotiation of an international treaty on persistent organic pollutants is scheduled for December in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"Our whole life is at stake," said Watt-Cloutier. "We can't wait for the day when we have to choose between our country food and our cultural heritage."