The Probable Cause?
The paper in question was by Dr. E.M. Scott of the Arctic Health Research Center in Anchorage. It went into detail of Alaskan Eskimos and Indians who also had methemoglobinemia. Scott had a theory about the condition. He believed it was caused by the lack of a key blood enzyme called diaphorase. The absence meant that any normal conversion of methemoglobin to hemoglobin would not happen which would then create the blue hue.