Flame retardants and legacy contaminants were analyzed in adipose tissue from 11 circumpolar polar bear (Ursus maritimus) subpopulations in 2005-2008 spanning Alaska east to Svalbard. Although 37 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), total-(a)-hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), 2 polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), pentabromotoluene, pentabromoethylbenzene, hexabromobenzene, 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy(ethane) and decabromodiphenyl ethane were screened, only 4 PBDEs, total-(a-)HBCD and BB153 were consistently found. Geometric mean ?PBDE (4.6-78.4ng/g lipid weight (lw)) and BB153 (2.5-81.1ng/g lw) levels were highest in East Greenland (43.2 and 39.2ng/g lipid weight (lw), respectively), Svalbard (44.4 and 20.9ng/g lw) and western (38.6 and 30.1ng/g lw) and southern Hudson Bay (78.4 and 81.1ng/g lw). Total-(a)-HBCD levels (