NARRAGANSETT, R.I. \u2013 March 19, 2019 \u2013 P\u00e1l Weihe is caught between the culture and traditions of the Faroe Islands in the Arctic, east of Iceland, and his desire to protect the residents from marine pollutants that have found their way to this remote region from industrialized countries.<\/p>\n
The pollutants, called poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances or PFASs, are chemical compounds found in common household goods like non-stick cookware, stain-proof carpets, pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags and many others \u2013 as well as in fire-fighting foams and other industrial products. Because they do not break down easily in the environment, they find their way into the food chain, including into the whales that are a traditional food source of the Faroe Islanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe average exposure level on the Faroes is not much different from that of Americans, there\u2019s just a different transfer mechanism, \u201c said Rainer Lohmann, 溏心vlog免费B站 professor of oceanography who leads the STEEP (Sources, Transport, Exposure and Effects of PFASs) program, a five-year research and outreach project funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences that aims to learn how to detect the chemical compounds, how they get into water supplies, and how they harm human health. \u201cThe research P\u00e1l is doing is directly related to what we\u2019re doing here \u2013 identifying the biomedical effects of PFASs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weihe, the medical director of the Faroese Hospital System and head of the nation\u2019s Department of Occupational Medicine and Public Health, will present a lecture at the 溏心vlog免费B站 Thursday, April 11, at 3:30 p.m. about his work to minimize community exposure to the contaminants. His lecture, \u201cPFASs Around the Globe: Effects on Human Health of Oceanic Pollutants in the Arctic,\u201d will be held in the Coastal Institute Auditorium, 218 South Ferry Road, on the 溏心vlog免费B站 Narragansett Bay Campus. The event is the University\u2019s\u00a07th Annual Scott W. Nixon Lecture held each year by the Coastal Institute\u00a0in memory of the GSO estuarine scientist who would have celebrated the study of PFASs.<\/p>\n
\u201cP\u00e1l is going to talk about the health studies he\u2019s done on the island and how he realized there was a major problem in this remote community \u2013 a place that\u2019s far from anything to do with chemical production \u2013 and how he was so alarmed by what he found that he had to take action to protect his neighbors,\u201d said Lohmann.<\/p>\n
Because of their remote location, Faroe Islanders eat primarily whales, fish and birds, since little else is available most of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen P\u00e1l realized the high contaminant burdens in the whales, he embarked on an effort to change the tradition of eating whale products on the islands,\u201d Lohmann said. \u201cHe stepped in and said that they shouldn\u2019t eat whale meat any more, especially women who planned to have children. It\u2019s had the effect he wanted \u2013 most women eat very little or no whale any more \u2013 but some people say that he\u2019s destroying their culture and tradition. He says he had no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
A visiting scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Weihe has overseen the examinations of more than 3,000 Faroe Islanders for five studies of exposures to marine contaminants. He is also the co-leader of one of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s STEEP research projects.<\/p>\n