Research Paper on:
Canadian Arctic and Toxins Bioaccumulation

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
today. Measurement of POP bioconcentration or bioaccumulation levels within the Arctic have determined that the toxic contaminants primarily do not originate within the Arctic and therefore are transported there through  air or water currents or migratory animals. The contaminants are considered persistent because they are able to exist for a great length of time and can tolerate many conditions. POPs  are also lipophilic in which they are concentrated in the fats of animals. Because of this, bioaccumulation levels are higher in those animals which are higher on the food chain  such as humans and polar bears as the contaminants get passed on through the digestion of the fat of animals with POPs in their system and makes them an extreme  health hazard. The Canadian Arctic region is considered extremely sensitive to the numerous human and environmental pressures within the last century which has  effected not only the human, animal and plant life in the region but questions whether or not the region can survive any additional stresses. Some of the more serious threats  to the region actually originate outside of the Arctic such as the gradual melting of Arctic ice linked to global warming which has also disrupted the ocean currents. Of the  many threats, perhaps one of the greatest is the slow bioaccumulation, or bioconcentration, of toxins in the Arctic primarily from persistent organic pollutants (POPs) which include pesticides, industrial compounds, and  combustion by-products among others which are transported by the air and water currents up to the Arctic and are found in the fatty tissues of most of the animals in  the region (VanderZwaag, Huebert and Ferrara, 2002). In addition to POPs, heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium among others have also been found in the Arctic environment and