Regional Environmental Publications Regional Environmental Publications 389 389 AMAP Human Health. Biomonitoring and Studying the Nutrition of Mothers and Newborn in the Finnish Lapland AMAP Human Health. Biomonitoring and Studying Leena Soininen, Helena Mussalo-Rauhamaa and Sari Hyvönen the Nutrition of Mothers and Newborn in the Finnish Lapland The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, AMAP is one of the Arctic Council’s four environmental programmes. The task of AMAP is to monitor and assess the levels and effects of anthropogenic pollutants in all components of AMAP Human Health the Arctic environment, including the human population. Biomonitoring and Studying the Nutrition of Mothers The population living in the Arctic areas is in many areas dependent on the and Newborn in the Finnish Lapland ecosystem of their environment and its food chains. Developing offspring either in the foetal state, as newborns, or in the growing phase are the most sensitive to environmental pollutants. As a result, the targeted group in the AMAP human health project is expecting mothers and their newborn. A newborn infant is the final destination for fat-soluble environmental toxins. In this publication the studies of mothers´ blood and cord blood of the newborn in Northern- and Eastern Lapland are reported. The exposure to environmental pollutants was calculated by assessing the use of food stuffs of mothers. The levels of mercury, lead, cadmium, selenium, zinc, copper, 15 different polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCB congeners), 11 pesticides or persistent organic pollutants (POP), arsenic, and nickel were low and no health risk was found. Some deficiencies in nourishment of mothers were found. The publication is also available in the Internet: http://www.environment.fi/publications ISBN 952-11-2000-2 ISBN 952-11-2001-0 (PDF) ISSN 1238-8610 ..................................................... LAPLAND REGIONAL ENVIRONMENT CENTRE P.O.BOX 8060, 96101 ROVANIEMI LAPLAND REGIONAL ENVIRONMENT CENTRE MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT P.O.BOX 35, FIN-00023 VALTIONEUVOSTO MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT Regional Environmental Publications 389 Leena Soininen, Helena Mussalo-Rauhamaa and Sari Hyvönen AMAP Human Health Biomonitoring and Studying the Nutrition of Mothers and Newborn in the Finnish Lapland ROVANIEMI 2005 ................................ LAPLAND REGIONAL ENVIRONMENT CENTRE MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT The publication is also available in the Internet: http://www.environment.fi/publications ISBN 952-11-2000-2 ISBN 952-11-2001-0 (PDF) ISSN 1238-8610 Translation: Satu Sevón-Nielsen Cover Photo: Leena Soininen Graphics processing: Hannu Lehtomaa Layout: Kyllikki Koskela Printing house: Gummerus Kirjapaino Oy, Saarijärvi 2005 ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ 2 ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Regional Environmental Publications 389 Foreword The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, AMAP, is one of the programmes originally included in the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, AEPS, which is realized in cooperation with the eight Arctic countries of Finland, Sweden, Nor- way, Denmark/Greenland, Iceland, Canada, the United States, and Russia. In 1997 AEPS and its groups were subsumed under the Arctic Council and now AMAP is one of five Working Groups of the Arctic Council. AMAP has been an international political decision of cooperation, the realization of which was divided between different ministries in Finland. The section on human health was assigned to the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Internationally the Human Health Subprogramme has been chaired by Denmark and later on by Canada. Before the start of the AMAP many of the Arctic countries had already initiated studies on the factors affecting human health. The goal of the programme was to unify the monitoring in each of the Arctic countries in order to establish a uniform view on what the state of the Arctic environment. This was considered necessary due to the conference between the Arctic countries in 1991 in Rovaniemi, Finland, where it was reported that the Arctic areas are not as free from pollution as it had been previously perceived. At the beginning of the 1990s, especially the area of Murmansk, neighbouring Lapland behind the eastern Finnish border, attracted attention and raised concerns among the Lappish peoples with its trans-boundary pollution. A project on the forest damages in the Finnish Lapland had already been started, but otherwise there were only minor projects on the health risks for the population. The Finnish research institutions were not interested in studying the people of Lapland, due to that no funding had been allocated to the project at the time. Due to the State Provincial Office of Lapland being considered legally responsible for it s people’s state and requirements, it was considered that the pollution of the environment was such an important health risk in the future, that its quantity and quality needs to be worked out. Thus, the State Provincial Office of Lapland has been responsible for the Finnish part of the health project. The realization of the project has received external funding, from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and from the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. Before that, the Finnish Ministry of Labour funded the workforce for the project. As Phase I of AMAP ended in 1997, the study in Lapland was only at the sample collecting phase. Some of the results from the analyses had already been received, however, they did not make the first international report, which was released at the end of Phase I. The ministers of the eight arctic countries in the meeting in Alta endorsed the continuation of activities under AMAP and agreed that special emphasis was required on the human health. In addition, the conference decided that during the following five years, a separate report on the human health would be made. It was launched in the October of 2002 in Rovaniemi, Finland, in connection to an AMAP symposium. This report is the English translation of the Finnish National Human Health Report. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Regional Environmental Publications 389 ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ 3 The Finnish results show that the Lappish people ingest less of the harmful contaminants in their nutrition than the populations of other Arctic regions. This is mainly due to the Lappish people not including as much marine fish nor marine mammals in their nutrition as the people in other Arctic regions. The research also showed that the trans-boundary pollution originating from the Kola region was not significant enough to cause a health risk for the Lappish people. This study also collected material on the Lappish diet, its contaminants and benefits. From the health aspect, the Arctic diet is excellent. Therefore, it is regrettable that certain regions have had to issue recommendations on restrictions concerning some animals at the top of the food chain and their use as nutrition. On the realization of this AMAP project, we would like to thank numerous instances, from those who funded our research to those executing the health care at the different posts in the communes of Lapland as well as in other areas, within the health administration and in other instances. A special thanks goes out to the mothers and their children who participated in this research. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○ 4 ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Regional Environmental Publications 389 Contents Foreword .......................................................................................... 3 Summary .......................................................................................... 7 1 Introduction................................................................................... 9 1.1 Environmental Protection of the Arctic ................................................................. 9 1.2 The Arctic Council................................................................................................... 10 1.3 AMAP........................................................................................................................11 1.4 The Purpose of the Study and AMAP in Finland .............................................. 11 1.5 The Arctic Areas and Their Population ................................................................ 13 1.6 The Finnish Lapland and Its Population .............................................................. 14 1.7 Environmental Pollutants and Children ............................................................. 16 1.8 The Contaminants and Health Targeted in the Study ...................................... 17 1.8.1 Mercury ........................................................................................................... 17 1.8.2 Cadmium ......................................................................................................... 18 1.8.3 Lead .................................................................................................................. 19 1.8.4 Arsenic and Nickel......................................................................................... 19 1.8.5 Other Metals, Trace Elements...................................................................... 19 1.8.6 Persistent Organic Pollutants ...................................................................... 20 2 Biomonitoring.............................................................................. 22 2.1 Data and Methods................................................................................................... 22 2.1.1 The Population Targeted