East Greenlanders have large amounts of environmental toxins in their bodies, and it has to do with what they eat
Every second, the Gulf Stream pushes more than 150 million cubic liters of warm water from the Caribbean Sea northwards. The warm water flows south of Iceland and into the North Sea, where it keeps the climate mild and wet ...
The Gulf Stream makes a U-turn somewhere north of Iceland and flows back down along the east coast of Greenland. Now the water is no longer warm, but has cooled down. But cold water is not the only thing the stream carries with it.
Minuscule animals and algae that have absorbed toxins, which are discharged into the sea from the industry in the U.S. and parts of Europe, are carried by the stream. Here they get eaten by fish, which in turn are consumed by seals and whales. And last but not least, the seals are devoured by polar bears.
When the East Greenland hunters shoot and eat polar bears, seals, and whales, they therefore get large amounts of these environmental toxins into their bodies.
The research is published in the journal Chemosphere.
According to the new research, East Greenlanders have some of the highest levels of environmental toxins in the world. And for some of the substances, it seems to be getting worse and worse, explains Eva Bonefeld-Jørgensen, who is a professor at the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University and one of the researchers behind the study.
A local man on a seal hunt near the town of Kulusuk, which is one of three locations where the researchers examined the levels of toxins in the bodies of the inhabitants. Because the East Greenlanders hunt and eat more seals, whales, and polar bears than the rest of the population in Greenland, they have higher amounts of environmental toxins in their bodies. Credit: Ville Miettinen / Wikimedia Commons
The city of Tasilaq is the capital of East Greenland and is beautifully located by the bay of the same name. The city has just over 2,000 inhabitants and is thus among the largest cities in Greenland. The city is also one of the places in East Greenland where researchers have taken samples of the population. Credit: Christine Zenino / Wikimedia Commons
The port in Tasilaq is important, as the population gets a large part of their diet from the sea. Especially seals and whales fill up the meat pots. Credit: Christine Zenino / Wikimedia Commons