Temporal trends of contaminants in Arctic human populations

The first Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) report was published in 1998 and followed by three assessment
reports of human health (AMAP 2003, 2009 and 2015). The focus area of the AMAP reports was to monitor levels of
environmental contaminants in the Arctic and to assess the health effects connected with detected levels in Arctic countries.
This review gives an overview of temporal trends of contaminants and their health effects in humans of the Arctic based on data
published by AMAP, as well as Russian scientific literature. Several time series of 31 contaminants in humans of the Arctic from
different cohorts are reported. The lengths of time series and periods covered differ from each other. International restrictions
have decreased the levels of most persistent organic pollutants in humans and food webs. Percentage changes for contaminants in
human biological matrices (blood samples from children, mothers and males and breast milk samples) for the period of sampling
showed declining trends in most of the monitored Arctic locations, with the exception of oxychlordane, hexachlorobenzene
(HCB), 2,2′,4,4′,5,5′-hexabromodiphenyl ether (PBDE153) and perfluorinated compounds (PFCs).