Dietary exposure to chemical contaminants from traditional food among adult Dene/Métis in the western Northwest Territories, Canada.

Environmental contaminants such as organochlorines and heavy metals have been reported to bioaccumulate in Arctic and subarctic wildlife. The Indigenous Peoples in northern and Arctic Canada rely on local wildlife as an important food source, and it is thus hypothesized that they may have high intakes of these contaminants. Herein, an assessment of dietary exposure to selected organochlorines and heavy metals for Indigenous Peoples of the western Northwest Territories (NWT) is presented. Dietary data were collected from 1012 adults with 24-h recalls in 16 communities in the western NWT (Denendeh). A comprehensive survey of the literature, as well as in-house analysis, formed the basis of a large traditional food-contaminant database. By combining the dietary and contaminant data, dietary exposure to 11 chemical contaminants was calculated. Dietary exposure to chemical contaminants in Denendeh is generally low and there is little, if any, associated health risk. However there are specific contaminants in certain communities for which exposure on a single day approaches the tolerable daily intake levels. These situations are detailed and monitoring needs are described.