INDIAN TOWNSHIP – High levels of cadmium have been found in moose livers and the findings do not bode well for a native people who for nearly 10,000 years viewed the moose as an important part of their sustenance.

The Passamaquoddy Tribe’s Rep. Donald Soctomah is a hunter who expressed concern at the findings.

“I eat quite a bit of moose liver. Traditionally, the heart and the liver are the first things that are eaten from a moose. It’s the way things have always been. You go back to camp you take the heart and liver and cook it.”

Tribal members believe that their freedom to derive sustenance from their surroundings, including moose, deer, porpoise and fish, is at the heart of their survival as a native culture.

In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $45,000 grant to the Passamaquoddy Tribe to study cadmium levels in moose livers.

Cadmium is a heavy metal that is extremely toxic neurologically and can cause bone marrow damage in very low concentrations. Signs of cadmium poisoning include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pains, cramps, salivation and organ failure. Chronic cadmium exposure can cause kidney failure, anemia and bone disorders.

Soctomah said the findings could force a change in tradition.

“I am concerned what other effects are going on out there. This is just one species of animal that we have checked. What about the rabbit, what about the deer? We are very concerned about this. I’d like to see them [EPA] continue to do more research,” he said.

Scientists are uncertain how cadmium gets into moose livers, but there is speculation that it might be carried atmospherically into the area from the more industrialized states.

Cadmium in moose and deer meat is not a new issue in Maine. In 1985, a study conducted by a Virginia researcher revealed elevated levels of the heavy metal in livers and kidneys of Maine moose and deer. That year, the state issued a warning to hunters against consuming the organs.

In 1999, a federal grant allowed the Indian Township Environmental Department to undertake its own study. Passamaquoddy and Penobscot hunters collected samples. After the October-November 1999 hunting season, 81 livers were analyzed including 19 deer and 62 moose. “The community was … very positive because they wanted to find out what’s going on,” Indian Township environmental planner Trevor White said.

Last year, the samples were tested and data tabulated. Although cadmium was found in all the livers sampled, there was a wide range of findings. “It surprised me to get numbers like that,” White said, referring to those livers that contained high levels of the toxic substance.

The next step, White said will be to put out warnings.

“Before the next season comes up, we will be putting up a notice to tell tribal members what we found and what we’re concerned about,” he said. Although the IT Environmental Department will be issuing an advisory, White said he is aware that because of cultural traditions it will be difficult to change old habits. “We give them the choice to decide what they want to do. Hope that they make the right decision.”

The tribal planner said the his agency also planned to have the samples tested for persistent organic pollutants, the noxious chemical cocktail that includes PCBs, DDT and dioxins, that build up in the food chain and slowly poison the environment. PCBs, are commonly found in transformer fluids, while dioxins are created in the manufacture of paper and vinyl plastic.

He said his department also was concerned about dioxins because of the state’s paper industry. “The main point source for dioxin right now are the Kraft paper mills, so we are concerned with that. There are other sources out there, but the main point source to be aware of are the Kraft paper mills,” he said.

According to White, the state is very interested in the tribe’s study and the tribe plans to share its results. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a tribal member or not, this affects everybody in the state of Maine,” he said.

Asked about the future, White said the next step will be to identify the source of the heavy metal “to see if we can do what nobody else has done, and that is find the sources of the cadmium. Until you do that, you can’t move forward and do anything about reducing this,” White said.