Chemistry in New Zealand April 2009 The Origins of Organic Contaminants in Antarctica

The continent of Antarctica is often described with words such as pristine and untouched due to its remote location and distance from the inhabited regions of earth. Environ-mental contaminants have, however, been detected1,2 in various Antarctic media since the 1960s. These early fi nd-ings provided impetus for further study, confi rming the ubiquity of contaminants in Antarctica but raising ques-tions about how these chemicals came to exist in such a secluded area.3,4 The isolation of the Antarctic continent has meant that it has endured very little contact with people through-out history, making it a rather unique case in the fi eld of contaminant study. Traditionally, human activities in this area have been involved with either exploratory or sci-entifi c endeavours.5 More recently, the tourism industr