IPEN Co-Chair Pamela Miller spoke to Voice of Islam radio on the Plastics Treaty, eliminating chemicals from plastics, and threats to Indigenous people in the Arctic from plastics and chemicals.
As Pam told the radio audience,
I live and work in Alaska, and we do community-based research with Indigenous communities here in the Arctic. What’s important for people to realize is the the Arctic is a hemispheric sink for chemicals and plastics that move on the wind and by ocean currents into the north. So Indigenous Peoples of Alaska have some of the highest levels of persistent chemicals of any population on Earth. We’re now seeing increasing pollution from microplastics that carry chemical contaminants into this region and harm traditional foods of Indigenous Peoples who rely on food from the land and sea.
Hear Pam’s segment below and find the full story from Voice of Islam.