Wednesday, April 6, 2011

NUCLEAR: Nanuuks of the North. Something else to keep you awake at night.

Polar countries have been tracking pollution in the Arctic for some time now, including nuclear impacts. Check this map and the amazing proliferation of nuclear plants, accidents, and dumps. Japan's disaster has awakened us to what's really been going on for some time now. More will be coming on the frightening radionuclides that have rained down on the "pristine" arcitc. Be frightened. Be very frightened.


Click for larger version - It will amaze you!

The Arctic terrestrial system is more vulnerable to man-made radioactive contamination than temperate areas. The exposure of people in the Arctic and subarctic is, for the general population, about five times higher than that expected in a temperate area. However, for part of the population the exposure could be more than 100 times higher than expected for similar fallout in temperate areas. The major sources of anthropogenic radionuclides in the Arctic are global fallout from nuclear bomb tests, releases from European nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, and fallout from the Chernobyl accident.


Arctic Council
Web site: www.arctic-council.org
AMAP, P.O. Box 8100 Dep., N-0032 Oslo.
Telephone: +47 23 24 16 35. Fax: +47 22 67 67 06.
E-mail: amap@amap.no
Web site: www.amap.no

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1 comment:

  1. This is true of all airborne and waterborne pollutants. Abstract as follows:

    Multixenobiotic resistance, acetyl-choline esterase activity and total oxyradical scavenging capacity of the Arctic spider crab, Hyasaraneus, following exposure to bisphenol A, tetra bromo diphenyl ether and diallyl phthalate.

    Minier C, Forget-Leray J, Bjørnstad A, Camus L.

    LEMA, EA 3222, Université du Havre, 25, rue Philippe Lebon, BP540, F-76058 Le Havre, France. minier@univ-lehavre.fr

    Abstract
    The Arctic has become a sink for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) originating from lower latitudes, and relatively high levels have been found in different biota. Recent studies have identified detrimental effects on wildlife including endocrine disruption, impairment of enzyme activity, and reduced immune function. The Arctic spider crab, Hyas araneus, shown interesting potential for its use as sentinel organism in polar ecosystems. This study investigated the effect of 2,2',4,4'-tetra bromo diphenyl ether (BPDE), bisphenol A (BPA), and diallyl phthalte (DPA) on H. araneus in a three weeks exposure study. Expression of multixenibiotic resistance (MXR) proteins has been studied using the C219 monoclonal antibody which allows identifying an immunoreactive protein of 40 kDa in the digestive gland while no such protein could be observed in the gills. Expression of this protein was increased by exposure to DPA (+75%; p<0.05, n=10). All compounds significantly affected muscle acetylcholine esterase (AChE) activity (p<0.05, n=10) with 50 microg/L DPA having the strongest effect by lowering the value to 37% of control. The total oxyradical scavenging capacity measured in the digestive gland toward peroxyl, hydroxyl and peroxynitrite was also significantly reduced indicating a decreased resistance to oxidative stress generated by DPA (p<0.05, n=5). These results thus suggest the potential detrimental effects of DPA even at concentration as low as 50 microg/L on H. araneus.

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