MAP Info Service Pollution Contaminants in birds Heavy metals in muscle. Arsenic (As)
Arsenic is a highly poisonous metalloid with many allotropic forms, including a yellow (molecular non-metallic) and several black and grey forms (metalloids).
The levels of Arsenic found in the samples from south western part of Novaya Zemlya (Guba Chernaya) were 10-50 times higher than in other parts of the Barents Sea area. This area was used as test area for nuclear explosions in the 1960.
More than 100 experts from a total of 9 Russian and 20 Norwegian institutions have participated in the preparation of the report, and the work has been organized in 13 expert groups. The work has been led by Sevmorgeo and PINRO on Russian side and on Norwegian side by the Institute of Marine Research and the Norwegian Polar Institute..
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BarentsPortal is a project developed under the Joint Russian - Norwegian Commission on Environmental Cooperation. The joint environmental report is a co-operation project between the Joint Russian - Norwegian Commission on Environmental Cooperation and the Joint Russian-Norwegian Fisheries Commission
The level of contaminants in the Barents region marine environment (biota and sediment) has been documented during the last decades both by Russian and Norwegian scientists. Lately, new compounds has been observed and documented in frame of national and international monitoring programs. However, the documentation of contaminants trends has been fragmented and somewhat difficult to follow, and there has been limited compilation and presentation of such data.
BarentsPortal financed in 2009 a project with goals just to do a compilation of the most relevant Russian and Norwegian contaminants data on seabirds in the Barents Sea, and presents them in overview maps.The are currently no maps available in the MAP Service.
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are organic chemical substances, that is, they are carbon-based. They possess a particular combination of physical and chemical properties such that, once released into the environment, they:
Some heavy metals elements are very toxic for humans and wildlife. They are carcinogenic or toxic, affecting, among others, the central nervous system (Mn, Hg, Pb, As), the kidneys or liver (Hg, Pb, Cd, Cu) or skin, bones, or teeth (Ni, Cd, Cu, Cr).
