How Persistent Organic Pollutants Threaten the Natural Environment and the Future of Indigenous Peoples


ONE
WITH MOTHER EARTH
Whether as Native Americans or First Nations, we are "indigenous" to these lands called Canada and United States. We are "peoples" that have collective rights within the hundreds of tribes that still exist today. We are "Indigenous Peoples" who have inherent rights to our traditional lands and we still maintain our culture and spiritual beliefs. Over 1,000 distinct Indigenous communities, reserves, villages and reservations or territories exist in both Canada and United States. These territories sustain us and when they are contaminated with chemical pollutants, our communities often suffer the most - because when the environment is polluted, Indigenous Peoples are polluted.

Indigenous knowledge teaches us how to walk upon our Earth Mother and to respect the sacredness of her creation. We use every part of our Earth Mother to sustain us in ceremony and in everyday life. We use the water for ceremony to purify and nourish our spirit and bodies. We depend on traditional foods and plants for ceremony and to nourish our communities. When our water, soil and air are poisoned with toxic chemicals, our rights to practice our traditional lifestyles and heritage and to live in a clean and safe environment are violated.



 OUR
SACRED
RELATIONSHIPS
Indigenous knowledge also teaches us our sacred relationship to the Ones-That-Swim, Ones-That-Fly, Ones-that-Crawl, and The-Four-Legged-Ones. These sacred relationships with plants and animals are embodied in our clan identities through our many traditions. Some of these species are endangered and some are polluted with high levels of toxic pollutants in their bodies. If these species are compromised, our clan identification could be endangered as well.

"Indigenous Peoples are the environment and the environment is Indigenous Peoples - we are one and the same with the air, water, and the soil of our Mother Earth. We are connected to every living species and every living species is spiritually and culturally connected to us." - Tom Goldtooth, National Coordinator, Indigenous Environmental Network

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chlorine-based chemicals that slowly poison humans and other animals. Most POPs are either pesticides or byproducts of industrial processes.

What Are POPs?

The term POPs is short for persistent organic pollutants. POPs are long-lived chemicals that build up in the food chain and slowly poison animals and humans. POPs travel thousands of miles and enter the soil, oceans, rivers, plants, and animals far from where they are produced or used. Indigenous peoples who maintain a land-based culture can be heavily exposed to POPs from their diet. In this way, POPs threaten our culture and our future. The most well-known examples of POPs are PCBs (transformer fluids), DDT (a pesticide) and dioxin, an unwanted byproduct of manufacturing and one of the most toxic man-made substances known. Historical tribal hunting and fishing rights are undermined by POPs contamination. What is the value of a right to fish if the fish are contaminated? Dioxin, PCBs, DDT and nine other chemicals are considered to be "a serious threat to human health" throughout the world by the United Nations. In fact, governments of the world are negotiating a treaty to remove them from the environment. It is critical that this U.N. treaty recognize the serious impacts POPs have on the future of Indigenous Peoples.

Polluted Food


Indigenous Peoples have special cultural and spiritual relationships to traditional foods that create increased consumption patterns compared to non-Indigenous populations. Unfortunately, the main way POPs enter our bodies is through food. POPs have been found in eagles, cormorants, ducks, geese, caribou, reindeer, raccoons, rabbits, quail, deer, moose, bison, turtles, crocodiles, sheep, cows, polar bears, seals, whales, and fish. POPs accumulate in fat and their concentration increases at each step of the food chain. For example, PCBs have been found to accumulate in the livers of sheep. In addition, dieldrin, a pesticide, accumulates in the wool of sheep that eat from contaminated land. Advisories prohibiting or discouraging the consumption of traditional foods affect Indigenous Peoples' right to practice our cultural and spiritual ways. Store-bought food does not solve the contamination problem, since it may also be contaminated. In many areas of our Indigenous territories, our communities are being told not to eat the contaminated fish and animals. Advisories are being posted everywhere. According to a report by Health Canada, "Great Lakes residents who consume larger amounts of certain species of contaminated fish and wildlife than the general population are at an increased risk of exposure to toxic pollutants." The report names affected subpopulations that include anglers, their families, and Indigenous Peoples. To Indigenous Peoples, fishing and hunting are not sport or recreation, but part of a spiritual, cultural, social and economic lifestyle that has sustained us from time immemorial. In some areas, fishing and hunting rights are treaty rights. When we no longer can eat fish and wild meat, high protein food is often replaced with junk food like potato chips and soft drinks. In addition, the active social part of harvesting of traditional foods is replaced by a less active lifestyle. The junk food diet is less healthy and has contributed to problems with obesity, high blood pressure and chronic diseases like diabetes. Cutting off traditional food supplies from Indigenous Peoples could be a form of cultural genocide.


Children Are Affected Most
Dezbah Evans, Yuchi/Diné

Children are more vulnerable than adults to many kinds of pollution, and POPs are no exception. Toxic exposures during fetal development, infant life, and childhood can have lifelong effects including increased susceptibility to cancer, and damage to the immune and reproductive systems. These health effects may not be apparent until much later in life, making them difficult to link to early-life exposures. For example, a study of children whose mothers ate PCB-contaminated fish from the Great Lakes during pregnancy showed that they had lower intelligence and problems with reading comprehension. These damaging effects were still observed when the children were 11 years old. After birth, POPs can also enter children during breast feeding. Many POPs have been detected at significant levels in the breast milk of Mohawk and Inuit women as well as women from many countries worldwide. The average breast-fed baby in North America grossly exceeds the World Health Organization "acceptable" daily intake of dioxin.

We have a responsibility to our future generations to leave them the Earth as it was left to us. By threatening the health and survival of our children, POPs threaten our future generations.

How POPs Build Up in the Food Chain


One example: when POPs from an industrial facility contaminate a nearby body of water, the fish who live there are contaminated also. (POPs build up in animal fat.) Many of these fish are eaten by a larger fish, who is eaten by a human. That human has unintentionally ingested the POPs that have built up at each step in the chain.

The Warning From Animals

Indigenous Peoples have always warned about the dangers of chemicals to the animal, fish and bird nations. In recent years, scientists agree that POPs are the main cause of damage to several types of animals and birds. The continued local extinction of the Lake Ontario bald eagle results from exposure to PCBs and other POPs. The beluga whales of the St. Lawrence estuary and the Alaskan Arctic are highly contaminated by a range of POPs and suffer from a high incidence of tumors and reproductive problems. Reproductive problems, deformities, and behavioral abnormalities in several species of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles in the Great Lakes basin have also been linked to POPs.

How POPs Build Up in the Human Body


Almost everything we eat, drink, or inhale is broken down by our bodies and then expelled through the process of waste elimination. But POPs are different. The poisonous chemicals are stored in fat and build up in our bodies, like water in a stopped-up sink. As we age and are continually exposed to POPs, their concentration becomes higher, and their potential effects on our health become more serious.


A Serious Health Threat to Humans
The pollution of the human body by POPs has occurred together with the appearance of several alarming trends in human health over the past few decades. There has been a precipitous rise in breast cancer, many studies showing dramatic drops in sperm counts and increases in other disorders of the reproductive organs. Numerous studies confirm the toxicity of different POPs to humans. In addition, scientists recognize that POPs can cause these health problems in animals that are commonly used to predict risk to humans. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that exposure to dioxin in the U.S. population is near the levels at which damage to health is known to occur from studies of animals and humans. These health effects include growth and immune system problems, reduced sperm counts and menstrual disorders such as endometriosis. Dioxin is also internationally recognized as a known human carcinogen.

Finally, PCBs and dioxin are suspected to contribute to learning disabilities. According to the World Health Organization, "subtle effects may already occur in the general population in developed countries at current background levels." For Indigenous Peoples, the implications are even more serious since we are more highly exposed to these chemicals.


A Global Treaty Against POPs

Negotiating a Safer Future
The decision to start global intergovernmental negotiations on a legally binding POPs agreement was taken by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environmental Program in February, 1997, and endorsed by the World Heath Organization in May, 1997. The treaty negotiations take place in a series of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) meetings that the Governing Council of the U.N. plans to conclude by 2000.

What Chemicals Are Covered?
The POPs chemicals currently included in the U.N. treaty negotiation are: PCBs, dioxins, furans, hexachlorobenzene and POPs pesticides, which include DDT, chlordane, heptachlor toxaphene, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, and mirex. The U.N. treaty will agree on a way to add other chemicals to this list.

How POPs Travel Across the Globe

POPs can be found across the planet and in the body of every human alive. Several POPs have been shown to migrate towards colder regions by a "grasshopper effect" of repeated evaporation and condensation, which has made the Arctic and its Indigenous population one of the most contaminated zones. Even though developed countries have banned some POPs pesticides like DDT, they are often widely used in developing countries. In addition, developed countries still contain industries that produce POPs such as dioxin. These industries include waste incinerators and vinyl production.

  Communities facing critical threats from POPs chemicals
  INDIGENOUS HOT SPOTS
ALASKAN ARCTIC
Pesticides and POPs in the Arctic: Aleut, Athabascan, Eyak, G'wichin, and Inuit Nations
POPs pesticides heptachlor, chlordane, and toxaphene have been found in the Arctic Ocean. DDT, PCBs, and hexachlorobenzene have been measured in sediment and fish in Arctic lakes. In 1997, blubber from four types of seals contained PCBs and DDT. The same year, measurements of beluga whales from the north coast showed toxaphene, PCBs, DDT, and chordane in their blubber. DDT and PCBs have also been seen in narwhals, gray whales and polar bears. The impact on humans has been seen in children. Inuit children show increased susceptibility to infection as well as immune system abnormalities.
OREGON
Dioxin and DDT in Columbia River Basin seafood: Umatilla, Nez Perce, Yakima, and Warm Springs Nations
Seafood is fundamental to Columbia River Basin tribal culture. DDT and PCBs have been measured in shrimp, flatfish, mollusks, and steelhead from offshore locations, estuaries, and rivers. In addition, PCBs, dioxins, and furans have been found in ospreys and their eggs from this river region. PCBs, dioxins and furans have also been observed in mink and otters. The U.S. EPA has estimated that populations that eat as much fish as the Columbia River Basin tribes face a serious cancer risk of 1 in a 1000 compared to the acceptable risk of one in a million.
WISCONSIN
PCBs contaminate the Menominee and Oneida Nations
PCBs have entered the food chain of Menominee and Oneida tribal members. Paper mills have contaminated fish and birds on the Fox River with PCBs. Other contaminants are currently under examination. These tribal lands are now a proposed Superfund site.
ACROSS TRIBAL LANDS
Burning trash creates dioxin
Trash burning on tribal lands is a potentially large source of dioxins. This is because PVC plastic (or vinyl) supplies chlorine; a necessary ingredient for dioxin formation. The EPA has measured large amounts of dioxin in experiments that imitate the burning of household waste in barrels as well as landfills.
NEW YORK
PCBs contaminate the Mohawk Nation
General Motors, Reynolds Metal, and ALCOA built factories upstream of the Mohawk Nation on the St. Lawrence River. PCBs discharged into the river contaminated water, fish, turtles, frogs, ducks, and breast milk. Until 1986, Mohawk children played in GM's landfill, because the company did not even put up a fence. PCBs are ranked by the EPA as being in the "top 10 percent of the most toxic chemicals to human health." New York has a statewide fish advisory warning people not to eat too many fish because of dioxin contamination.
MAINE
Dioxin contaminates the fish of the Penobscot Nation
Paper mills upstream of the Penobscot Nation have contaminated rivers and fish with PCBs and dioxin. Another mill discharges directly into reservation waters. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection found that dioxin concentrations in all fish samples downstream of paper mills in the Penobscot River exceeded the government's monitoring limit. The Penobscot Water Resources Department has also documented dioxin contamination in reservation waters. Dioxin is a known human carcinogen and has been called "the most toxic chemical known to science." The rate of cancer among Penobscot tribal members is twice the state average.

"DRUMBEAT for MOTHER EARTH,"

IEN/GREENPEACE VIDEO ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND POPS WINS FILM AWARDS

September 1999 - "Best Public Service Film," American Indian Film Festival, San Francisco
September 1999 - "Best Environmental/Social Justice Film," Earth Vision 99 Santa Cruz, CA
February 2000 - "Best Environmental Documentary," New York International Independent Film & Video Festival
DRUMBEAT FOR MOTHER EARTH TRAVELS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD


The award winning IEN/Greenpeace documentary film on Indigenous Peoples and POPs has traveled around the world. The film was released and premiered last September 1999 at the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) global meeting on the elimination of POPs in Geneva, at the World Health Organization (WHO) Indigenous Peoples meeting in Geneva, and shown at the National Congress of American Indians and National Indian Health Board annual conventions, in Alaska and tribal groups in the lower 48 and worldwide. It has been translated into Russian and plans are being made to translate it into Spanish, German and other languages. The video has been successful in educating both the Native community, tribal leaders and the non-Native people on what POPs is and how it affects the health, culture, treaty rights and spiritual rights of Native Peoples.

Greater Health Risks With Indigenous Peoples

Recent studies have found that Indigenous Peoples are at greater risk for toxic illness due to the lack of an enzyme. The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry reported that Indian tribes may be "at higher risk than average populations due to high wild food consumption, contaminated drinking water sources, high levels of radioactivity found on reservations, and high fish consumption rates." Toxic response syndrome (TRS) remain an invisible epidemic among Indigenous Peoples because it's symptoms often mimic other diseases. The issue of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a growing concern among Indigenous populations.

What is Dioxin?
Dioxin is the generic term for a group of suspected carcinogens (cancer causing), extremely toxic to both humans and animals, and resistant to biological breakdown. It is a by-product created during the incineration of chlorine-containing wastes, the manufacturing of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics, the production of chemicals like herbicides, pesticides and chlorinated benzenes, and the chlorine-bleaching of wood pulp and paper. The term "dioxin" includes the most potent, chemical, 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo p-dioxin (TCDD), other dioxins, and dioxin-like substances including furans and some polychlorinated bi-phenyles (PCBs).

What Do You Mean It Doesn't Breakdown?
Dioxin is a very stable chemical, resisting natural breakdown processes for extremely long periods of time. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the half-life of dioxin in soil, for instance, is 10 to 30 years. Instead of breaking down, even small amounts of dioxin released into the environment, build up to higher and higher levels over time. It accumulates. Polar bears, whales, other animals and people even in the most remote areas carry high dioxin concentrations in their bodies.

Where Does The Dioxin Accumulate?
Dioxin is not soluble in air or water, but are powerfully attracted to fats and oils. As a result, they accumulate in the tissues of living things and multiply in concentrations as they move up the food chain. Thus the levels of dioxins in the bodies of species at the top of the food chain - most importantly Indigenous Peoples who maintain subsistence cultures - are millions of times greater than those in the general environment. More than 90% of our dioxin exposure comes through the food supply - particularly through fish, meats, and dairy products.

Dioxin Impacts Our Women, Elderly, and Children
In many of our traditional Indigenous communities, elders still eat the fatty material of fish which has very high concentrations of dioxin and other contaminates such as mercury. To issue fishery advisories or to demand that elders discontinue their eating practices is still viewed as a form of cultural genocide since the relationship to the fish and the food web is one that is tied to spiritual beliefs and certain teachings. IEN is promoting the prevention of the production of dioxin rather than trying to control it. Because we cannot effectively detoxify our bodies or get rid of dioxins, these chemicals can now be detected in all our organs, with high concentrations in our fat and mother's milk. The only known way to reduce one's body burden of dioxin is through breast feeding. Children bear the highest exposures. Dioxin can cross the placenta, during the most important part of child development. The child is exposed to dioxins that have built up in the mother's body during her life. And mother's milk from U.S. women contains the highest concentrations of all - up to 500 times higher than cow's milk. According to EPA, an average breast feeding infant is subject to daily dioxin doses 20 to 60 times higher than those of an average adult. Again, breastfeeding of children of Indigenous Peoples is a cultural and spiritual value that is part of traditional teachings. Dioxin also impacts the reproductive systems of men lowering sperm count.

Other Impacts
Exposure during fetal or infant development can lead to hormonal changes, birth defects, and reduced growth. More alarming, tiny doses of dioxin can have effects that become obvious only later in life, such as impaired intellectual development, infertility, and other reproductive problems at puberty. Dioxin has also been linked to the risk of endometriosis (uterus-womb), diabetes, and other diseases. Dioxin acts like an "environmental hormone," wreaking havoc on many of the body's natural biochemical processes. When dioxin enters the body it passes through cell membranes and combines with a natural receptor protein that allows dioxin to enter the cell nucleus. Dioxin then interacts with DNA, turning on genes that control many biochemical reactions, such as the synthesis and metabolism of hormones, enzymes, growth factors, and other chemicals. In other words, it changes how our body acts.

Sources of Dioxin

    Incinerators Burning Chlorine-Containing Wastes
  • Trash incinerators
  • Hospital waste incinerators
  • Hazardous waste incinerators
  • Cement kilns burning hazardous wastes
  • Sewage sludge incinerators
    Bleaching Pulp and Paper with Chlorine
  • Pulp and paper mills use chlorine-based bleachers in making paper
    PVC Plastic
  • Manufacture of PVC
  • Incineration of waste from PVC manufacture and products (including open burn dumps, back yard burn and barrel burning)
  • Recycling of cars, cables, and other PVC products
    Manufacture of Other Chlorinated Chemicals
  • Pesticides, solvents, dyes, intermediates, etc.
    Other Uses of Chlorine and Organochlorines
  • Production of chlorine
  • Metallurgical processing and smelting
  • Use of chlorinated gasoline additives
  • Wood treatment with chlorinated pesticides
  • Oil refining and chlorinated catalysts
  • Manufacture of inorganic chlorine chemicals
  • Water disinfection with Chlorine
  • We need a national strategy for zero dioxin, with the clear goal of eliminating - not merely reducing - the formation and release of dioxin.
  • Place a moratorium on new dioxin permits.
  • Sunset existing permits which would require EPA to revise all existing dioxin permits to include timetables for rapidly reducing and eliminating all dioxin releases.
  • Support all Tribal governments to obtain environmental equity in federal grants to develop and implement Tribal environmental protection programs, especially adequate funds for solid waste management.
    WHAT YOU CAN DO:

  • Educate your community and have your Tribal Council pass a resolution.

  • Contact the EPA that you want a prevention-based zero dioxin program that phases out chlorine-based dioxin sources, particularly incinerators, pulp mills, and PVC plastic.

FYI Videos:



what can POP's do to our planet





PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANT - DLS-CSB (HF23)