Human Health in the Arctic: The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme

Abstract

The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) has a history back to 1991. The Human HealthAssessment Group (HHAG) was established in 1993. The first report was submitted in 1998, followed bycomprehensive reports in 2003, 2009, and 2015. The generous contribution from the Canadian partners in the firstphase resulted in a historical monitoring program with samples from all Arctic countries analysed at CTQ inQuebec, with strict routines of sampling, storage, transportation, and finally analyses of toxic and essential metals, aswell as persistent toxic substances (PTS) in blood samples from all participating countries. The first report wasmostly a monitoring of levels in human samples, while the following reports built on the mother-child cohortsconnected to the monitoring, with continous new knowledge of human health effects in the complicated field ofchild development, nutrition, life style, and exposure to the toxic elements. The cohorts are ongoing, and thecommunication of results is steadily developed in close collaboration with health authorities. This presentation willpresent the broad picture, but also discuss recent important findings, effects in different geographical areas, and givefuture perspectives for public health impact from contaminants, nutrition, and life style. The development andsustainability of the partnership in the group is crucial for future work on both monitoring and effect studies. Thegroup has also added new knowledge to global environmental science, with specific strategies for cohort studies inscarcely populated regions.