Toxics Monitoring of Human Populations in Alaska

1
Toxics Monitoring of Human Populations in Alaska

• Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry

2
What Is ATSDR?

• A federal (DHHS) public health agency that
  investigates and strives to prevent human health
  problems caused by exposure to toxic chemicals in
  the environment.

3
Why Monitor?

• From the public health perspective we need to
  answer the question What does this mean to my
  health?

4
The Arctic Dilemma

• Risk from chemicals in subsistence foods vs.
  nutritional cultural benefits of subsistence
  lifestyle
• Benefits of subsistence foods vs. risk of
  switching to store-bought foods

5
Sources of Contaminants

• Local
• Military sites
• Industry
• Mining
• Global
• Air deposition

6
(No Transcript)
7
Whats Happening in Alaska?

• There is no comprehensive human monitoring in
  Alaska
• Studies are fragmented, isolated, focused on one
  region, issue, or limited number of contaminants

8
Examples

• Maternal cord blood study- CDC
• North Slope, Aleutians, other areas
• Enrolling pregnant women
• Get fetal and maternal blood
• Plan to follow infants through life
• Look at environmental contaminants essential
  vitamins/elements

9
Examples cont.

• Evaluating mercury levels in mummies.
• Human monitoring in Aleutian/ Pribilof Islands
• NCEH Breast cancer pilot study
• NA serum banked since 1980s
• Test serum for contaminants

10
What the Future Holds

• Alaska Traditional Diet Project
• Dietary surveys to identify important exposures
• Alaska Wild and Traditional Food Safety Program
• Tracking human exposure

11
Learn from International Experiences

• Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program
• www.amap.no
• Northern Contaminants Program
• www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/NCP