Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Is Santa Claus Toxic Because of Toxic Food up by the North Pole?


Every child knows that Santa Claus lives somewhere up by the North Pole. The North Pole has seen many changes in recent years with the melting ice and warmer summer temperatures. But climate change isn't the only bad news facing Santa Claus. Research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) shows that if he's eating anything that lives in the Arctic, chances are that he is loaded with toxic chemicals. Biologists have reported high levels of contaminants in a range of Arctic animals and fish. Industrial pollutants from western Europe, North America and Asia are dispersed by the air and ocean currents and are then concentrated over the arctic. The chemicals are taken up by the smallest plants and animals lowest on the food chain, and are "biomagnified" the higher on the food chain an animal is. That's why the polar bears have some of the highest levels of toxic organic pollutants of any creature walking the planet. In a test of feeding dogs minke whale blubber that was contaminated with the chemicals showed altered thyroid hormones. Should Santa decide to diet a bit? Eating less fatty contaminated foods he won't have to worry about harmful health effects from the contaminants that are stored in his own fat belly.

3 comments:

  1. HAHAHA! I think that this is funny, yet sad. If Santa is really eating the foods up there I feel really bad for him and I hope he is okay. As for the animals this is a horrible outcome. We need to try and eliminate out puts in the air from the industries. I think that this is sad to figure out so late because if we could have stopped it sooner maybe it wouldn't have had such a wide affect as it has now. And maybe Santa would'nt have to Diet.

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  2. This was definately a funny title to look at! And i agree with Katilyn that this is really sad. I also feel bad for the animals because this is really harmful to them. And, even the smallest organisms could make a big difference when it reaches to the top of the food chain. If this is true, this is an example of it by using the polar bear as an example.

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  3. This seems like another one of those cases where the reason it isn't getting fixed is because not many people are aware that it's going on. All we can do is to raise awareness. Maybe people would actually care more if Santa was real...

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