IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v14y2017i7p694-d102954.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of a Nickel-Copper Smelter on Concentrations of Toxic Elements in Local Wild Food from the Norwegian, Finnish, and Russian Border Regions

Author

Listed:
  • Martine D. Hansen

    (Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway)

  • Therese H. Nøst

    (Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway
    NILU—Norwegian Institute for Air Research, The Fram Centre, NO-9296 Tromsø, Norway)

  • Eldbjørg S. Heimstad

    (NILU—Norwegian Institute for Air Research, The Fram Centre, NO-9296 Tromsø, Norway)

  • Anita Evenset

    (Akvaplan-niva, The Fram Centre, NO-9296 Tromsø, Norway
    Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway)

  • Alexey A. Dudarev

    (Hygiene Department, Northwest Public Health Research Centre (NWPHRC), St. Petersburg 191036, Russia)

  • Arja Rautio

    (Arctic Health, Faculty of Medicine and Thule Institute, University of Oulu, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland)

  • Päivi Myllynen

    (Northern Laboratory Centre NordLab, FI-90220 Oulu, Finland)

  • Eugenia V. Dushkina

    (Hygiene Department, Northwest Public Health Research Centre (NWPHRC), St. Petersburg 191036, Russia)

  • Marta Jagodic

    (Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Guttorm N. Christensen

    (Akvaplan-niva, The Fram Centre, NO-9296 Tromsø, Norway)

  • Erik E. Anda

    (Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway)

  • Magritt Brustad

    (Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway)

  • Torkjel M. Sandanger

    (Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT—The Arctic University of Norway, NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway
    NILU—Norwegian Institute for Air Research, The Fram Centre, NO-9296 Tromsø, Norway)

Abstract

Toxic elements emitted from the Pechenganickel complex on the Kola Peninsula have caused concern about potential effects on local wild food in the border regions between Norway, Finland and Russia. The aim of this study was to assess Ni, Cu, Co, As, Pb, Cd, and Hg concentrations in local wild foods from these border regions. During 2013–2014, we collected samples of different berry, mushroom, fish, and game species from sites at varying distances from the Ni-Cu smelter in all three border regions. Our results indicate that the Ni-Cu smelter is the main source of Ni, Co, and As in local wild foods, whereas the sources of Pb and Cd are more complex. We observed no consistent trends for Cu, one of the main toxic elements emitted by the Ni-Cu smelter; nor did we find any trend for Hg in wild food. Concentrations of all investigated toxic elements were highest in mushrooms, except for Hg, which was highest in fish. EU maximum levels of Pb, Cd, and Hg were exceeded in some samples, but most had levels considered safe for human consumption. No international thresholds exist for the other elements under study.

Suggested Citation

  • Martine D. Hansen & Therese H. Nøst & Eldbjørg S. Heimstad & Anita Evenset & Alexey A. Dudarev & Arja Rautio & Päivi Myllynen & Eugenia V. Dushkina & Marta Jagodic & Guttorm N. Christensen & Erik E. A, 2017. "The Impact of a Nickel-Copper Smelter on Concentrations of Toxic Elements in Local Wild Food from the Norwegian, Finnish, and Russian Border Regions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:7:p:694-:d:102954
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/7/694/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/7/694/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roger B. Newson, 2010. "Frequentist q-values for multiple-test procedures," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 10(4), pages 568-584, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alexey A. Dudarev & Jon Oeyvind Odland, 2022. "Forty-Year Biomonitoring of Environmental Contaminants in Russian Arctic: Progress, Gaps and Perspectives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-35, September.
    2. Anna Nalbandyan-Schwarz & Kristine Bondo Pedersen & Anita Evenset & Eldbjørg Heimstad & Torkjel M. Sandanger & Päivi Myllynen & Arja Rautio, 2024. "Combined Contaminant Levels from Local Harvested Food Items in the Norwegian–Finnish–Russian Border Region," Resources, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-28, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leight, Jessica & Awonon, Josué & Pedehombga, Abdoulaye & Ganaba, Rasmané & Gelli, Aulo, 2022. "How light is too light touch: The effect of a short training-based intervention on household poultry production in Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    2. Joseph Flavian Gomes, 2020. "The health costs of ethnic distance: evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 195-226, June.
    3. Dursun, Bahadır & Cesur, Resul & Mocan, Naci, 2018. "The Impact of Education on Health Outcomes and Behaviors in a Middle-Income, Low-Education Country," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 94-114.
    4. Han Yu & Naci Mocan, 2018. "The Impact of High School Curriculum on Confidence, Academic Success, and Mental and Physical Well-Being of University Students," NBER Working Papers 24573, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Huong Thu Le & Ha Trong Nguyen, 2017. "Parental health and children's cognitive and noncognitive development: New evidence from the longitudinal survey of Australian children," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 1767-1788, December.
    6. Dannenberg, Astrid & Weingärtner, Eva, 2023. "The effects of observability and an information nudge on food choice," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    7. Damian Clarke & Joseph P. Romano & Michael Wolf, 2020. "The Romano–Wolf multiple-hypothesis correction in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 20(4), pages 812-843, December.
    8. Han Yu & Naci Mocan, 2019. "The Impact of High School Curriculum on Confidence, Academic Success, and Mental and Physical Well-Being of University Students," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 428-462, December.
    9. Hanson, Andrew & Hawley, Zackary & Martin, Hal & Liu, Bo, 2016. "Discrimination in mortgage lending: Evidence from a correspondence experiment," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 48-65.
    10. Naci H. Mocan & Samantha Bielen & Wim Marneffe, 2018. "Quality of Judicial Institutions, Crimes, Misdemeanors, and Dishonesty," NBER Working Papers 24396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Mira Bierbaum & Eleonora E M Nillesen, 2021. "Sustaining the integrity of the threatened self: A cluster-randomised trial among social assistance applicants in the Netherlands," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-21, June.
    12. Cotet-Grecu, Anca M., 2016. "On the estimation of the effect of stressors on birth outcomes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 148-152.
    13. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Malesky, Edmund & Nguyen, Cuong Viet, 2020. "Inequality and Support for Government Responses to COVID-19," GLO Discussion Paper Series 694, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    14. Pelin Akyol & Naci Mocan, 2023. "Education and Consanguineous Marriage," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(1), pages 114-171.
    15. Mocan, Naci & Bielen, Samantha & Marneffe, Wim, 2020. "Quality of judicial institutions, crimes, misdemeanors, and dishonesty," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    16. Maite D. Laméris & Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Anne-Marie Prooijen, 2023. "What have we done?! The impact of economics on the beliefs and values of business students," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 433-483, April.
    17. Roger B. Newson, 2013. "Bonferroni and Holm approximations for Sidak and Holland–Copenhaver q-values," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 13(2), pages 379-381, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:7:p:694-:d:102954. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.