Is Santa toxic?

How does Santa survive in the North Pole? Not only is it freezing cold, but everything he eats is likely to be filled with toxic chemicals say scientists from Norway.

Should Santa Claus be worried about what he eats? Credit: Mads Nordtvedt, NTNU Info

High levels of contaminants in Arctic animals and fish – including polar bears, ivory gulls and Greenland sledge dogs – have been found by scientists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Only a handful of smokestacks foul the air and few industrial plants discharge pollutants into the rivers and seas of the Arctic, but it’s the industrial pollutants from Western Europe, North America and Asia travelling on the air and ocean currents that concentrate and settle which causes the problem.

The chemicals are taken up by small plants and animals, and are biomagnified up the food chain until they reach the polar bear, which have some of the highest levels of toxic organic pollutants of any creature walking the planet says professor Bjørn Munro Jenssen.

Jenssen and colleagues have been looking at the combined effects of pollutants and climate change as part of a project named Bear Health. They reported the presence of persistent organic pollutants like PCBs and brominated flame retardants in the bodies of a wide range of arctic wildlife – many of which Santa might tuck into for his evening meal.

Three species of whales, polar bears, ringed seals, Stella sea lions, walrus, mink and arctic fox all showed high levels of persistent organic pollutants. East Greenland and Svalbard polar bears and Svalbard glaucous gulls were the only species found to show stress from the pollutants.

But it’s not all bad for Santa – like those of us who decide to diet after Christmas – eating less fatty contaminated food means he’ll avoid the harmful side effects from the contaminants that are otherwise sure to be stored in his own belly.