Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can be used as chemical sentinels for the assessment of anthropogenic influences on Arctic environmental change. We present an overview of studies on PCBs in the Arctic and combine these with the findings from ArcRisk-a major European Union-funded project aimed at examining the effects of climate change on the transport of contaminants to and their behaviour of in the Arctic-to provide a case study on the behaviour and impact of PCBs over time in the Arctic. PCBs in the Arctic have shown declining trends in the environment over the last few decades. Atmospheric long-range transport from secondary and primary sources is the major input of PCBs to the Arctic region. Modelling of the atmospheric PCB composition and behaviour showed some increases in environmental concentrations in a warmer Arctic, but the general decline in PCB levels is still the most prominent feature. 'Within-Arctic' processing of PCBs will be affected by climate change-related processes such as changing wet deposition. These in turn will influence biological exposure and uptake of PCBs. The pan-Arctic rivers draining large Arctic/sub-Arctic catchments provide a significant source of PCBs to the Arctic Ocean, although changes in hydrology/sediment transport combined with a changing marine environment remain areas of uncertainty with regard to PCB fate. Indirect effects of climate change on human exposure, such as a changing diet will influence and possibly reduce PCB exposure for indigenous peoples. Body burdens of PCBs have declined since the 1980s and are predicted to decline further.

Arctic Health Faculty of Medicine University of Oulu 90014 Oulu Finland

Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme AMAP Secretariat Gaustadalléen 21 0349 Oslo Norway

Department of Bioscience Arctic Research Centre Aarhus University 4000 Roskilde Denmark

Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences Institute of Chemical and Bioengineering ETH Zürich 8092 Zürich Switzerland Swiss Federal Office for the Environment Worblentalstrasse 68 3063 Ittigen Switzerland

Department of Community Medicine UiT The Arctic University of Norway 9037 Tromsø Norway

Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry Stockholm University 11418 Stockholm Sweden

Department of Pesticides Menoufia University P O Box 32511 Shebeen El Kom Egypt Arctic Health Faculty of Medicine University of Oulu 90014 Oulu Finland

Faculty of Chemistry Biotechnology and Food Sciences 9171 Longyearbyen Svalbard Norway

Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research 0834 Barcelona Spain

IVL Swedish Environment Research Institute 411 33 Göteborg Sweden

Lancaster Environment Centre Lancaster University Lancaster LA1 4YQ UK

Max Planck Institute for Chemistry 55128 Mainz Germany Max Planck Institute for Meteorology 20146 Hamburg Germany

Max Planck Institute for Chemistry 55128 Mainz Germany Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment Masaryk University 62500 Brno Czech Republic

NILU Norwegian Institute for Air Research 2027 Kjeller Norway

Norwegian Institute for Water Research 0349 Oslo Norway

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