Northern Dimension Institute Policy Brief 7 – December 2019
Systemic biomonitoring needed to mitigate Arctic health risks
This Policy Brief highlights the need for biomonitoring to assess the risks of public health disorders and negative demographic implications caused by the ingestion of hazardous pollutants into the human body. These pollutants can accumulate in food chains and spread with migratory species of commercial fish, birds and wild animals. Consequences of climate change increase the ingestion risks, and the dependence of indigenous peoples on the resources in their environment makes them particularly vulnerable. Hence, the relevance of this issue for Russia and the Arctic countries is obvious and requires attention.
The mitigation of negative effects of climate change on the health of indigenous people in the Arctic requires the establishment of systemic biomonitoring at the legislative level.
The monitoring must
- be implemented on a regular basis
- take into account not only the effect of pollutants to the body, but also the deficiency of vital trace elements, such as iodine, iron, magnesium, etc., which are essential for the proper functioning of the body.
- include chemical analysis of environmental samples, animals and birds, which indigenous peoples consume, as well as human biological samples (urine, blood, breast milk, hair, teeth).
Download the Policy Brief Systemic biomonitoring needed to mitigate Arctic health risks
Feel free to contact the team of authors at the Arctic Biomonitoring Laboratory, Northern Arctic Federal University, Arkhangelsk, Russia, for more information:
Tatiana Sorokina t.sorokina[at]narfu.ru
Anna Trofimova a.trofimova[at]narfu.ru
