The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7362 p198
13 August 2005

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How seabirds play a part in spreading contaminants more
Turning up the heat more
Behaviour in childhood and the effect of developments in globalisation more

How seabirds play a part in spreading contaminants

A short account by biologists from Canadian universities, published in the 15 July issue of Science, reveals the role played by Arctic seabirds in the transport of some of the contaminants produced by human industry.

It is known that some migratory fish such as salmon help to spread contaminants in the Arctic oceans, and it now appears that seabirds in the same regions may be transporting industrial and agricultural compounds from the ocean to the land. Most of the birds involved are pelagic feeders whose populations are concentrated in breeding colonies comprising more than 20,000 individuals. It is known that guano from these birds has added greatly to local nutrients.

In islands in the Canadian Arctic seabird populations have been associated with raised concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls in fish caught locally. Other persistent organic pollutants and mercury derivatives have been detected in sediments.

In a study of some 10,000 breeding pairs of northern fulmars, these birds were found to feed on zooplankton, squid, fish and carrion, acquired from distances up to 400km from the colony. Water sediments contained concentrations of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, hexachlorobenzene and other organics, and mercury. Arctic ponds showed 10- to 60-fold increases in concentration of such compounds, with the highest concentrations most enriched by the seabirds in their foraging.

Industrial contaminants of Arctic wildlife arouse concern for the overall health of ecosystems, and also because indigenous humans of the area must rely upon a diet drawn from these areas. Although seabirds are important in providing critical nutrients to terrestrial ecosystems in the Arctic, it must also be remembered that they are also transporting and concentrating industrial contaminants into these remote environments.

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Turning up the heat

A report in Nature for 28 July states that the strange scepticism that has prevailed for some time among politicians in the US over the phenomenon of global warming shows signs of abating. Two recent hearings in the Senate have admitted that climate change presents an acute challenge to our planet. On 21 July leading US scientists, including Ralph Cicerone, president of the US National Academy of Sciences, and Mario Molina of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told assembled politicians that the world is now warming at a perilous rate.

Most climate scientists believe that the warming we are witnessing is caused by increasing levels in the atmosphere of the so-called greenhouse gases. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is now at its highest level for about 400,000 years, and continually rises from year to year. The chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce has demanded information from climate researchers regarding studies that show earth’s temperature rising dramatically over the past century, although the move has drawn acute criticism from his colleagues who found that his requests for information on funding and methodology have been bullying in tone. Researchers have continued their protests, and a group of 20 leading climate scientists has asserted that there are thousands of pieces of evidence contributing to the finding that climate change is a real and rising threat to the earth.

The suggestion has even been made that the National Academy of Sciences should carry out an independent survey of the scientific evidence that has long been disputed for political and commercial reasons in the US.

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Behaviour in childhood and the effect of developments in globalisation

In the 2 July issue of the BMJ there is a proposition by a psychiatrist from Lincolnshire that economic globalisation has resulted in an inappropriate domination of non-Western cultures by Western notions. A concentration in the West upon market values as criteria for behaviour has resulted in an obsession with the idea of growth, the global economy demanding perpetual expansion which does not promote happiness in a growing individual. The call for growth, remarks Sami Timimi, not only fails to render people contented but destroys many of the influences which encourage contentment because it weakens social cohesion and promotes individualism in its place.

In the West, children are called upon to be competitive and unequal, rejecting inconvenient authority but having to live in unstable family structures. As a consequence, crime, anxiety, unhappiness and abuse of various substances have increased sharply among youngsters. Children have come to be viewed as victims of abuse or perpetrators of antisocial and criminal behaviour.

By contrast, many non-Western cultures welcome children into stable extended family structures where duty and responsibility override individualism. However, many of the traditions of Asiatic cultures prevent their seeking and using new scientific knowledge regarding child rearing.

The United Nations convention on the rights of the child recognises children’s capacity to act independently and their right to freedom of expression and association. However, an alternative convention for African unity states that a child has its responsibility towards its family and society, and demands respect for parents, superiors and elders in decisions the child takes.

The influence of Western culture has been to increase the numbers of children diagnosed with such complaints as attention deficit hyperactivity and autism, and increased reliance upon largely untested psychotropic drugs to combat these deviations.

Many non-Western cultures expect less from infants and young children with regard to behaviour, emotional expression and self-control. But older children are expected to accept adult responsibilities earlier. The family, and not the individual, is the accepted basic social unit.

Western practitioners must use a cultural value system in extending their decisions. They must observe caution in prescribing drugs, in case this should be interpreted as offering the same for everyone. More family-friendly policies like dealing with poverty, encouraging family business practices and treating neglectful parents as criminals should be supported.

It must not be overlooked that we are developing the concept of globalisation in a world where there are alarming inequalities between rich and poor nations which must somehow be resolved.

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