How Persistent Organic
Pollutants Threaten
the Natural Environment
and the Future
of Indigenous Peoples

GREENPEACE and the Indigenous Environmental Network 

ONE
WITH MOTHER EARTH
Whether as Native Americans or First Nations, we are "indigenous" to these lands called Canada and United States. We are "peoples" that have collective rights within the hundreds of tribes that still exist today. We are "Indigenous Peoples" who have inherent rights to our traditional lands and we still maintain our culture and spiritual beliefs. Over 1,000 distinct Indigenous communities, reserves, villages and reservations or territories exist in both Canada and United States. These territories sustain us and when they are contaminated with chemical pollutants, our communities often suffer the most - because when the environment is polluted, Indigenous Peoples are polluted.

Indigenous knowledge teaches us how to walk upon our Earth Mother and to respect the sacredness of her creation. We use every part of our Earth Mother to sustain us in ceremony and in everyday life. We use the water for ceremony to purify and nourish our spirit and bodies. We depend on traditional foods and plants for ceremony and to nourish our communities. When our water, soil and air are poisoned with toxic chemicals, our rights to practice our traditional lifestyles and heritage and to live in a clean and safe environment are violated.

- Tom Goldtooth, National Coordinator, Indigenous Environmental Network

January 17, 2002 - The international treaty on the elimination of toxic chemicals (12 chemicals, including dioxin and furans) resulted in all participating countries signing on to the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) treaty. This signing took place during May of 2001 in Stockholm. From this signing, the treaty is called the "Stockholm Convention." The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) have just announced a new homepage for the Stockholm Convention (http://www.chem.unep.ch/sc/). At the moment the info on the new page is not much different from the UNEP Chemical POPs page, although there is now a map of all the signatories and parties (as pdf file), and the listing of signatories. Each country that signed the Convention now must seek ratification of the "treaty" within their countries legislative body. In the United States, the Senate is the congressional body that ratifies the Stockholm Convention. The U.S. has not ratified the Convention.

Where are POPs Found?

Polluted Food
Indigenous Peoples have special cultural and spiritual relationships to traditional foods that create increased consumption patterns compared to non-Indigenous populations. Unfortunately, the main way POPs enter our bodies is through food. POPs have been found in eagles, cormorants, ducks, geese, caribou, reindeer, raccoons, rabbits, quail, deer, moose, bison, turtles, crocodiles, sheep, cows, polar bears, seals, whales, and fish. POPs accumulate in fat and their concentration increases at each step of the food chain. For example, PCBs have been found to accumulate in the livers of sheep. In addition, dieldrin, a pesticide, accumulates in the wool of sheep that eat from contaminated land. Advisories prohibiting or discouraging the consumption of traditional foods affect Indigenous Peoples' right to practice our cultural and spiritual ways. Store-bought food does not solve the contamination problem, since it may also be contaminated. In many areas of our Indigenous territories, our communities are being told not to eat the contaminated fish and animals. Advisories are being posted everywhere. According to a report by Health Canada, "Great Lakes residents who consume larger amounts of certain species of contaminated fish and wildlife than the general population are at an increased risk of exposure to toxic pollutants." The report names affected subpopulations that include anglers, their families, and Indigenous Peoples. To Indigenous Peoples, fishing and hunting are not sport or recreation, but part of a spiritual, cultural, social and economic lifestyle that has sustained us from time immemorial. In some areas, fishing and hunting rights are treaty rights. When we no longer can eat fish and wild meat, high protein food is often replaced with junk food like potato chips and soft drinks. In addition, the active social part of harvesting of traditional foods is replaced by a less active lifestyle. The junk food diet is less healthy and has contributed to problems with obesity, high blood pressure and chronic diseases like diabetes. Cutting off traditional food supplies from Indigenous Peoples could be a form of cultural genocide.

Children Are Affected Most
Dezbah Evans, Yuchi/Diné

Indigenous Peoples have always warned about the dangers of chemicals to the animal, fish and bird nations. In recent years, scientists agree that POPs are the main cause of damage to several types of animals and birds. The continued local extinction of the Lake Ontario bald eagle results from exposure to PCBs and other POPs. The beluga whales of the St. Lawrence estuary and the Alaskan Arctic are highly contaminated by a range of POPs and suffer from a high incidence of tumors and reproductive problems. Reproductive problems, deformities, and behavioral abnormalities in several species of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles in the Great Lakes basin have also been linked to POPs.

A Serious Health Threat to Humans
The pollution of the human body by POPs has occurred together with the appearance of several alarming trends in human health over the past few decades. There has been a precipitous rise in breast cancer, many studies showing dramatic drops in sperm counts and increases in other disorders of the reproductive organs. Numerous studies confirm the toxicity of different POPs to humans. In addition, scientists recognize that POPs can cause these health problems in animals that are commonly used to predict risk to humans. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that exposure to dioxin in the U.S. population is near the levels at which damage to health is known to occur from studies of animals and humans. These health effects include growth and immune system problems, reduced sperm counts and menstrual disorders such as endometriosis. Dioxin is also internationally recognized as a known human carcinogen.

Finally, PCBs and dioxin are suspected to contribute to learning disabilities. According to the World Health Organization, "subtle effects may already occur in the general population in developed countries at current background levels." For Indigenous Peoples, the implications are even more serious since we are more highly exposed to these chemicals.

A Global Treaty Against POPs

Negotiating a Safer Future
The decision to start global intergovernmental negotiations on a legally binding POPs agreement was taken by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environmental Program in February, 1997, and endorsed by the World Heath Organization in May, 1997. The treaty negotiations take place in a series of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) meetings that the Governing Council of the U.N. plans to conclude by 2000.

What Chemicals Are Covered?
The POPs chemicals currently included in the U.N. treaty negotiation are: PCBs, dioxins, furans, hexachlorobenzene and POPs pesticides, which include DDT, chlordane, heptachlor toxaphene, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, and mirex. The U.N. treaty will agree on a way to add other chemicals to this list.

• Yaqui farming communities of Mexico Mohawks of Akwesasne in the Great Lakes "River Peoples" of the Colombia River Basin in Washington and Oregon Inuit, Cree and Dene of Canada, and
• Alaska Natives.