Hansen J C
Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Int J Circumpolar Health. 1998 Oct;57(4):280-91.
The human health programme of the first phase of AMAP was planned at an international meeting held in Nuuk, Greenland, October 1992. As the most vulnerable period to adverse effects of contaminants is during fetal development, it was decided to concentrate on analyses of umbilical cord blood and maternal blood. The programme was designed as a core programme in which 150 sample pairs should be collected in each of the 8 arctic countries and analyzed for persistant organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals (mercury, lead and cadmium). As some essential elements such as copper, zinc and selenium interfere with heavy metal toxicity these elements should also be analyzed. Additional analyses such as nickel and arsenic in urine, mercury in hair, and POPs in breast milk could be incorporated regionally according to specific local conditions. Radionucleides were not a major focus in the human programme as this issue was be dealt with by AMAP's radiation group. Implementation of the programme was a problem in most of the countries due to lack of funding. However, an offer from Canada to analyze all contaminants in 50 samples from each country enabled the first comparative circumpolar study of human exposure to contaminants to be completed. The study confirmed that in general the most important source of exposure to both POPs and mercury is food of marine origin and that Greenlanders and Inuit from the Canadian Arctic, due to their traditional lifestyle, are among the most highly exposed populations in the Arctic. This is not a result of local pollution in Greenland and Canada, but is due to long range transport of persistent contaminants through the atmosphere and their biomagnification in the marine food chain. For these reasons the most important recommendation of the first AMAP assessment is that priority should be given to the expeditious completion of negotiations to establish protocols for the control of POPs and heavy metals under the Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution.
北极监测与评估计划（AMAP）第一阶段的人类健康项目是在1992年10月于格陵兰努克举行的一次国际会议上规划的。由于污染物产生不良影响的最脆弱时期是胎儿发育阶段，因此决定集中分析脐带血和母体血液。该项目被设计为一个核心项目，应在8个北极国家中的每个国家收集150对样本，并分析其中的持久性有机污染物（POPs）和重金属（汞、铅和镉）。由于一些必需元素，如铜、锌和硒会干扰重金属毒性，因此也应对这些元素进行分析。根据当地具体情况，可在区域范围内纳入其他分析项目，如尿液中的镍和砷、头发中的汞以及母乳中的POPs。放射性核素并非人类项目的主要关注点，因为这个问题由AMAP的辐射小组处理。由于缺乏资金，该项目在大多数国家的实施都存在问题。然而，加拿大提出愿意分析每个国家50个样本中的所有污染物，这使得首次关于人类接触污染物的环北极比较研究得以完成。该研究证实，总体而言，接触POPs和汞的最重要来源是海洋来源的食物，而且格陵兰人和加拿大北极地区的因纽特人，由于其传统生活方式，是北极地区接触程度最高的人群之一。这并非格陵兰和加拿大当地污染的结果，而是由于持久性污染物通过大气的远距离传输及其在海洋食物链中的生物放大作用。出于这些原因，AMAP第一次评估的最重要建议是，应优先迅速完成谈判，以便根据《远距离越境空气污染公约》制定控制POPs和重金属的议定书。
