Children are especially at risk.
Inuit women and children may have higher than normal blood levels of persistent organic chemicals. These pollutants are toxic, long lasting, and travel in multiple cycles of evaporation, transported by air and condensation to remote areas far from the source of release. They accumulate in fatty tissue, becoming more concentrated higher in the food chain over time. They present a special risk to children because they are conveyed through the placenta and in breastmilk, and can have a critical effect on the foetus and infant whose systems are at key stages of development. In the Arctic, the indigenous Inuit people rely on fatty foods such as whale, seal, and char, which are high in POPs.