OPPTS Tribal News: Environmental Impacts on Subsistence Foods
Author:
The Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) and Tribal Environmental News Exchange
Date Published:
1/2000
Description:
Subsistence foods include fish, sea mammals, beavers, bears, deer and moose, plants, and wild rice, and are assumed to make up about 1/3 to 1/2 of a traditional diet. Over the past few years, EPA Region 10 has received reports of tainted subsistence foods, including salmon deformed with tumors, Alaskan fishermen catching infected fish, and seals losing their fur outside of molting season. White sharks, known to be warm water species, have even been seen in Arctic waters.
These reports have caused most to fear that food sources are contaminated with radio nuclides and other
toxic chemicals and are, thus, affecting human health, as well as the Native tradition. As a result, EPA has partnered with tribal organizations and members to complete the Traditional Knowledge and Radionuclides Project, featured on page 16 of this issue. This project combines traditional knowledge with western science to measure environmental problems and conduct Arctic research.
The following pages also highlight many other environmental projects that use traditional knowledge and science to focus on environmental topics regarding subsistence foods, including:
PBTs and other toxic contaminants
Fish
Moose and deer
Wild rice.
Please help us keep our resource pages current by reporting any broken links or outdated information by using the link below: Report Broken Links, Missing Pages, or Accessibility Issues Report form
