TY - JOUR
T1 - Endocrine disruption and differential gene expression in sentinel fish on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska
T2 - Health implications for indigenous residents
AU - von Hippel, Frank A.
AU - Miller, Pamela K.
AU - Carpenter, David O.
AU - Dillon, Danielle
AU - Smayda, Lauren
AU - Katsiadaki, Ioanna
AU - Titus, Tom A.
AU - Batzel, Peter
AU - Postlethwait, John H.
AU - Buck, C. Loren
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2018/3
Y1 - 2018/3
N2 - People living a subsistence lifestyle in the Arctic are highly exposed to persistent organic pollutants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Formerly Used Defense (FUD) sites are point sources of PCB pollution; the Arctic contains thousands of FUD sites, many co-located with indigenous villages. We investigated PCB profiles and biological effects in freshwater fish (Alaska blackfish [Dallia pectoralis] and ninespine stickleback [Pungitius pungitius]) living upstream and downstream of the Northeast Cape FUD site on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. Despite extensive site remediation, fish remained contaminated with PCBs. Vitellogenin concentrations in males indicated exposure to estrogenic contaminants, and some fish were hypothyroid. Downstream fish showed altered DNA methylation in gonads and altered gene expression related to DNA replication, response to DNA damage, and cell signaling. This study demonstrates that, even after site remediation, contaminants from Cold War FUD sites in remote regions of the Arctic remain a potential health threat to local residents – in this case, Yupik people who had no influence over site selection and use by the United States military. Legacy contaminants from Cold War military sites in the Arctic remain a health threat to Arctic Indigenous Peoples.
AB - People living a subsistence lifestyle in the Arctic are highly exposed to persistent organic pollutants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Formerly Used Defense (FUD) sites are point sources of PCB pollution; the Arctic contains thousands of FUD sites, many co-located with indigenous villages. We investigated PCB profiles and biological effects in freshwater fish (Alaska blackfish [Dallia pectoralis] and ninespine stickleback [Pungitius pungitius]) living upstream and downstream of the Northeast Cape FUD site on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. Despite extensive site remediation, fish remained contaminated with PCBs. Vitellogenin concentrations in males indicated exposure to estrogenic contaminants, and some fish were hypothyroid. Downstream fish showed altered DNA methylation in gonads and altered gene expression related to DNA replication, response to DNA damage, and cell signaling. This study demonstrates that, even after site remediation, contaminants from Cold War FUD sites in remote regions of the Arctic remain a potential health threat to local residents – in this case, Yupik people who had no influence over site selection and use by the United States military. Legacy contaminants from Cold War military sites in the Arctic remain a health threat to Arctic Indigenous Peoples.
KW - Bering Sea
KW - FUD site
KW - Formerly used defense site
KW - Global distillation
KW - Polychlorinated biphenyls
KW - Yupik
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85034860429&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85034860429&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.11.054
DO - 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.11.054
M3 - Article
C2 - 29182972
AN - SCOPUS:85034860429
SN - 0269-7491
VL - 234
SP - 279
EP - 287
JO - Environmental Pollution
JF - Environmental Pollution
ER -