Climate change unleashing toxic chemicals stored in arctic ice

July 25, 2011

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are man-made substances that were once heavily used in pesticides and insecticides, but were restricted in 2001 due to their toxic nature. Air and ocean currents carried many of the pollutants to the arctic where they became trapped in the ice. A new study has shown that  climate change and the melting of artcic ice is allowing  the toxins to  remobilize.  POPs are now being discovered in high concentrations in the food chain and are becoming a threat to human and animal health.  Read more at the Toronto Sun. 

Find Report: Revolatilization of persistent organic pollutants in the Arctic induced by climate change, in the Nature Climate Change Journal here.