Earthsky Interviews
Private: Wildlife expert tracks Arctic pollution
04-19-2006 - Human World
_DB:_ Todd O’Hara is a wildlife toxicologist at the Institute of Arctic Biology in Fairbanks. He studies how contaminants – PCBs, DDT, and other pesticide – reach the Arctic and move through the food chain. O’Hara talked about what happens to a pesticide applied to a field in the lower 48 states.
_Todd O’Hara:_ That pesticide can then either enter the atmosphere or runoff into freshwater, and then it takes two different paths. If it enters the atmosphere, it can then what we call “grasshopper,” jump, or leap its way to the Arctic, where it’s colder and its vapor state is less favorable, so it’s more likely to stay in liquid in the ocean.
_JB: From the ocean, pesticide residue works its way up the food chain, where it eventually reaches what O’Hara calls the Arctic’s top predators:_ polar bears, foxes, and humans.
_Todd O’Hara:_ Clearly, the human residents we want to look at because of the public health concern. And that’s something that’s very important to emphasize, that we in the Arctic see wildlife health equals human health. They’re very integrated. People depend very much on these animals for their culture and their nutrition, so we don’t try to separate that in our studies.
_DB:_ More about human sustainability at earthsky.org. Thanks today to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth & Sky.
Our thanks to:
Todd O’Hara
Associate Professor of Wildlife Toxicology
University of Alaska, Fairbanks