Points of view: Inuit women's perceptions of pollution

Inuit women's perceptions of health risks from potential contamination in the arctic food chain were investigated in 1995 through in-depth interviews with 47 women in a Canadian arctic community. This number represents 34% of the eligible participants in the population of the research community. Many of these Inuit women suggest that pollution can appear in a variety of forms, from drug and alcohol consumption to visible air and water contaminants to possible invisible contaminants in arctic wildlife. Concepts of pollution--starting with the individual body and extending to the body politic--are influenced by a complex of sociocultural factors arising from historical and contemporary community life.