Toxic Mementos Left Behind in Arctic

NY Times ^ | July 19, 2005 | HENRY FOUNTAIN

[neverdem]

The Arctic may be devoid of industry and agriculture, but it is slowly turning into a pollutant dump just the same. The phenomenon is known as the grasshopper effect, because the contaminants - including persistent organic compounds like PCB's and DDT - tend to evaporate in the more temperate zones where they are produced, migrate on air currents and condense in the colder polar region.

"What we've been seeing over the past 15 years is that the Arctic is essentially acting as a depository for many industrial chemicals," said Jules M. Blais, a biology professor at the University of Ottawa.

But the distribution of these contaminants in the Arctic is not uniform. "Some places have a lot and others a little," Dr. Blais said.

He and colleagues have now provided an explanation: seabirds, they write in the journal Science, can concentrate the contaminants in a small area.

The researchers studied the effects of a colony of northern fulmars on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. About 20,000 of the birds live along 800-foot cliffs, above a series of ponds. The birds eat fish, squid and other food from the ocean, and their wastes are washed down the cliffs into the ponds.

All the nutrients in the wastes make the nearer ponds teem with life - mosses, insects, even small birds - in what is otherwise a bleak landscape. The seabirds, Dr. Blais said, "support an entire ecosystem below where they are nesting." But analyses of pond sediment show that the seabirds are also passing on DDT, mercury and other contaminants. Ponds closer to the nests had more of the toxins.

The birds are eating relatively high on the food chain, Dr. Blais said. "The things they are eating have bioconcentrated the chemicals," he said. "Essentially, the birds are funneling a...

[neverdem]

Mark Mallory
Devon Island, where pollutants were examined.

[spinestein]

[The Arctic may be devoid of industry and agriculture, but it is slowly turning into a pollutant dump just the same. The phenomenon is known as the grasshopper effect, because the contaminants - including persistent organic compounds like PCB's and DDT - tend to evaporate in the more temperate zones where they are produced, migrate on air currents and condense in the colder polar region.]


I.B.F.

<:^0)

[A CA Guy]

I think it is also called the Russian dumping effect, since the Russians were notorious for dumping 50 gallon drums of many toxic things there.

[neverdem]

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[NewHampshireDuo]

All the nasty stuff, DDT included, gets concentrated in the arctic ice. Global warming eventually causes the ice to melt. Ocean currents bring the concentrated toxics to major population centers (New York City). Panic and death set in. Sounds like a great Hollywood enviro-nut thriller.

[John O]

All the nasty stuff, DDT included

DDT is not nasty stuff. It's non-toxic to humans and animals and is a miracle chemical. It almost eradicated malaria (which has been on the upswing since DDT was banned)

The claims made in silent spring have almost all been debunked. DDT is good stuff (Wish I could get some. Squitos are bad around my place right now))