Reconstructing Historical Mercury Exposure From Beluga Whale Consumption Among Inuit in the Mackenzie Delta

Datos Bibliográficos

ID13117
AutoresApril Kinghorn (McGill University), Murray Humphries (0000-0003-0674-6287, McGill University), Peter Outridge (Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0E8), Hing Man Chan (0000-0003-4351-7483, Corresponding author, Community Health Program, University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, V2N 4Z9)
Año2006
Volumen26
Número2
Páginas310-326
Fecha de publicación2006-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Ethnobiology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0278-0771 • E-ISSN: 2162-4496
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2993/0278-0771_2006_26_310_rhmefb_2.0.co_2
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas29

Modern increases in mercury levels in Arctic marine mammals have important implications for people who consume these resources as part of a traditional diet. This paper establishes estimates of dietary exposure to mercury from the consumption of beluga whales for the historic (pre-Euroamerican contact) and modern Mackenzie Delta Inuit populations. For the historic populations, beluga intake was estimated from reconstructions of the pre-Euroamerican traditional diet, using archaeological and ethnographic data, while mercury levels in consumed flesh were estimated from beluga teeth recovered from archaeological sites. For modern populations, beluga consumption was estimated from recent dietary surveys, while mercury levels in consumed flesh were measured directly in harvested whales. Despite higher mercury levels in modern beluga, the estimated average exposure to mercury from the consumption of beluga is 15-73 μg Hg/person/day for historic Inuit populations compared to only 2-12 μg Hg/person/day for modern Inuit populations. This result is due to the higher average daily consumption of beluga whale flesh among historic Inuit populations and may have placed these populations at greater risk for toxic mercury exposure than modern populations. Nevertheless, as a result of the recent increases in environmental mercury levels, mercury exposure remains a significant health issue for modern community members with diets particularly rich in marine mammals