1: What are some of the chronic health effects of exposure to Benzene? Their is a lot of different types of blood disorders.
many types of blood disorders like leukemia.
2: What are some of the potential sources of Benzene in the environment?
tobacco smoke and evaporating gasoline
3: Why is it so hard to link health problems to toxic air pollution?
People are have grown near these facilities. There will be alot of gray zone in the environment health from exposure man made chemicals
4: Why it is said that between a state of health and a state of disease is a gray zone of suboptimal health, a state of imbalance?
People may not be diagnosed with a specific disease but may not be healthy
5: Explain what happened at Lake Nyos, Cameroon.
It have pumping gas-rich water to the surface, pipe barely keeps ahead of CO2, it would take the lake 30-50 years to make it safety.
6: What is the difference between a pollutant and a contaminant?
A pollutant is any factor that has a harmful effect on living things or their environment. A contaminant is the presence of undesirable material that makes something unfit for a particular use.
7: Define the following:
• Toxin: Harmful, deadly, or poisonous
• Toxicology: The science concerned with the study of poisons (or toxins) and their effects on living organisms. The subject also includes the clinical, industrial, economic, and legal problems associated with toxic materials.
• Carcinogen:Any material that is known to produce cancer in humans or other animals.
• Synergism: Cooperative action of different substances such that the combined effect is greater than the sum of the effects taken separately
• Point sources: Give example: Sources of pollution such as smokestacks, pipes, or accidental spills that are readily identified and stationary. They are often thought to be easier to recognize and control than area area sources. This is true only in a general sense, as some very large point sources emit tremendous amounts of pollutants into the environment.
• Area sources (non-point): Give example: Sometimes also called nonpoint sources. These are diffuse sources of pollution such as urban runoff or automobile exhaust. These sources include emissions that may be over a broad area or even over an entire region. They area often difficult to isolate and correct because of the widely dispersed nature of the emissions.
• Mobile sources: Give example: Sources of air pollutants that move from place to place; for example, automobiles, trucks, buses, and trains.
8: Define the following: (Identify when they are used)
• ppm: Parts per million,when measuring small amounts of pollutants
• ppb: Part per billion, when measuring small amounts of pollutants
• mg/L:Milligrams per liter,units of concentration for a pollutant
• μg/m3:Micrograms of pollutant per cubic meter of air, when measuring air pollutants.
9: What is an Infectious Agent? (Give examples):
viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungus. These four kinds of infectious agents cause most infectious disease. For example mad cow disease is caused by prions.
A Closer Look 10.1
Sudbury Smelters: A Point Source
10: Explain what happened to the area surrounding the Sudbury Smelter as a result of the release of heavy metal pollution into the air
Nickel contaminated soils up to 50km from the stacks. The forests that once surrounded Sudbury were devastated by decades of acid rain and the deposition of particulates containing heavy metals.
11: What are some common heavy metals found in the environment? What health hazards can they pose to humans
gold, platinum, silver, bismuth and arsenic
12: What is the concept of Body Burden?
refers to the total amount of these chemicals that are present in the human body at a given point in time
What are the body burdens for the following?
• Antimony: 8mg
• Mercury:13mg
• Arsenic: 18mg
• Cadmium: 30mg
• Lead: 150mg
13: Define biomagnification/bioaccumulation:
Bioaccumulation: the accumulation within living organisms of toxic substances occurring in the environment.
Biomagnification: the increasing concentration of toxic substances within each successive link in the food chain.
14: Describe how Cadmium is a good example of biomagnification.
Cadmium has low-concentration in ash and soil taken into the plants as they were growing.
15: How does Mercury enter the environment?
from deposition and from the atmosphere through precipitation
16: Define Methylation:
the addition of a methyl group to a molecule
17: Define Volatilization:
The conversion of a chemical substance from a liquid or solid state to a gaseous or vapor state by the application
Read: A Closer Look 10.2- Mercury and Minamata, Japan
What are the 4 major factors that must be considered in evaluating and treating toxic environmental pollutants?
Individuals vary in their response to exposure to the same dose or amount of a pollutant; pollutants may have a threshold; some effects are reversible and the chemical form of a pollutant, activity, and its potential to cause health problems may be changed markedly by ecological and biological processes
18: Define: Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) and describe the properties that define them
organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation through chemical, biological, and photolytic processes. Because of this, they have been observed to persist in the environment, to be capable of long-range transport, bioaccumulate in human and animal tissue, biomagnify in food chains, and to have potential significant impacts on human health and the environment.
Read: A Closer Look 10.3- Dioxin: How Dangerous is it?
How is Dioxin produced?
in small concentrations when organic material is burned in the presence of chlorine, whether the chlorine is present as chloride ions or as organochlorine compounds, so they are widely produced in many contexts
What happened in Times Beach, Missouri?
evacuated after the discovery that oil sprayed on the town's roads to control dust contained dioxin
19: Give some examples of HAA’s:
Herbicides, pesticides, phthalates and PCBs
20: Explain how PCB’s are harmful (found in plastics):
PCBs interfere with the growth and development of organisms
Read: A Closer Look 10.4- Demasculinization and Feminization of Frogs
Explain how hormone disruptors (Endocrine disruptors) work
Natural hormones produced by the body send chemical messages to the cells. Natural hormones transmit instructions to the cell DNA. The chemicals bind to the receptor molecules and obstruct the role of natural hormones
21: How can Thermal Pollution affect a body of water and it’s biodiversity? Explain.
Thermal pollution will cause a body of water become heated up and changes the concentration of dissolved oxygen. This would disrupt fish spawning cycles and the fish might have a higher susceptibility to disease.
22: What are examples of particulates?
Burning of oil and coal, dust storms, fires and volcanic eruptions
23: Why is asbestos harmful to humans?
• Physiological tolerance:
results when the body of an individual adjusts to tolerate a higher level of pollutant.
• Genetic tolerance:
32: Explain the difference between an acute and chronic effect.
Acute effects occurs soon after exposure, usually to large amounts of pollutants.
many types of blood disorders like leukemia.
2: What are some of the potential sources of Benzene in the environment?
tobacco smoke and evaporating gasoline
3: Why is it so hard to link health problems to toxic air pollution?
People are have grown near these facilities. There will be alot of gray zone in the environment health from exposure man made chemicals
4: Why it is said that between a state of health and a state of disease is a gray zone of suboptimal health, a state of imbalance?
People may not be diagnosed with a specific disease but may not be healthy
5: Explain what happened at Lake Nyos, Cameroon.
It have pumping gas-rich water to the surface, pipe barely keeps ahead of CO2, it would take the lake 30-50 years to make it safety.
6: What is the difference between a pollutant and a contaminant?
A pollutant is any factor that has a harmful effect on living things or their environment. A contaminant is the presence of undesirable material that makes something unfit for a particular use.
7: Define the following:
• Toxin: Harmful, deadly, or poisonous
• Toxicology: The science concerned with the study of poisons (or toxins) and their effects on living organisms. The subject also includes the clinical, industrial, economic, and legal problems associated with toxic materials.
• Carcinogen:Any material that is known to produce cancer in humans or other animals.
• Synergism: Cooperative action of different substances such that the combined effect is greater than the sum of the effects taken separately
• Point sources: Give example: Sources of pollution such as smokestacks, pipes, or accidental spills that are readily identified and stationary. They are often thought to be easier to recognize and control than area area sources. This is true only in a general sense, as some very large point sources emit tremendous amounts of pollutants into the environment.
• Area sources (non-point): Give example: Sometimes also called nonpoint sources. These are diffuse sources of pollution such as urban runoff or automobile exhaust. These sources include emissions that may be over a broad area or even over an entire region. They area often difficult to isolate and correct because of the widely dispersed nature of the emissions.
• Mobile sources: Give example: Sources of air pollutants that move from place to place; for example, automobiles, trucks, buses, and trains.
8: Define the following: (Identify when they are used)
• ppm: Parts per million,when measuring small amounts of pollutants
• ppb: Part per billion, when measuring small amounts of pollutants
• mg/L:Milligrams per liter,units of concentration for a pollutant
• μg/m3:Micrograms of pollutant per cubic meter of air, when measuring air pollutants.
9: What is an Infectious Agent? (Give examples):
viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungus. These four kinds of infectious agents cause most infectious disease. For example mad cow disease is caused by prions.
A Closer Look 10.1
Sudbury Smelters: A Point Source
10: Explain what happened to the area surrounding the Sudbury Smelter as a result of the release of heavy metal pollution into the air
Nickel contaminated soils up to 50km from the stacks. The forests that once surrounded Sudbury were devastated by decades of acid rain and the deposition of particulates containing heavy metals.
11: What are some common heavy metals found in the environment? What health hazards can they pose to humans
gold, platinum, silver, bismuth and arsenic
12: What is the concept of Body Burden?
refers to the total amount of these chemicals that are present in the human body at a given point in time
What are the body burdens for the following?
• Antimony: 8mg
• Mercury:13mg
• Arsenic: 18mg
• Cadmium: 30mg
• Lead: 150mg
13: Define biomagnification/bioaccumulation:
Bioaccumulation: the accumulation within living organisms of toxic substances occurring in the environment.
Biomagnification: the increasing concentration of toxic substances within each successive link in the food chain.
14: Describe how Cadmium is a good example of biomagnification.
Cadmium has low-concentration in ash and soil taken into the plants as they were growing.
15: How does Mercury enter the environment?
from deposition and from the atmosphere through precipitation
16: Define Methylation:
the addition of a methyl group to a molecule
17: Define Volatilization:
The conversion of a chemical substance from a liquid or solid state to a gaseous or vapor state by the application
Read: A Closer Look 10.2- Mercury and Minamata, Japan
What are the 4 major factors that must be considered in evaluating and treating toxic environmental pollutants?
Individuals vary in their response to exposure to the same dose or amount of a pollutant; pollutants may have a threshold; some effects are reversible and the chemical form of a pollutant, activity, and its potential to cause health problems may be changed markedly by ecological and biological processes
18: Define: Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) and describe the properties that define them
organic compounds that are resistant to environmental degradation through chemical, biological, and photolytic processes. Because of this, they have been observed to persist in the environment, to be capable of long-range transport, bioaccumulate in human and animal tissue, biomagnify in food chains, and to have potential significant impacts on human health and the environment.
Read: A Closer Look 10.3- Dioxin: How Dangerous is it?
How is Dioxin produced?
in small concentrations when organic material is burned in the presence of chlorine, whether the chlorine is present as chloride ions or as organochlorine compounds, so they are widely produced in many contexts
What happened in Times Beach, Missouri?
evacuated after the discovery that oil sprayed on the town's roads to control dust contained dioxin
19: Give some examples of HAA’s:
Herbicides, pesticides, phthalates and PCBs
20: Explain how PCB’s are harmful (found in plastics):
PCBs interfere with the growth and development of organisms
Read: A Closer Look 10.4- Demasculinization and Feminization of Frogs
Explain how hormone disruptors (Endocrine disruptors) work
Natural hormones produced by the body send chemical messages to the cells. Natural hormones transmit instructions to the cell DNA. The chemicals bind to the receptor molecules and obstruct the role of natural hormones
21: How can Thermal Pollution affect a body of water and it’s biodiversity? Explain.
Thermal pollution will cause a body of water become heated up and changes the concentration of dissolved oxygen. This would disrupt fish spawning cycles and the fish might have a higher susceptibility to disease.
22: What are examples of particulates?
Burning of oil and coal, dust storms, fires and volcanic eruptions
23: Why is asbestos harmful to humans?
Asbestos gives asbestosis, a lung disease
24: How can EMF (Electromagnetic Fields) be harmful to humans?
increased risk of contracting leukemia, lymphomas, and nervous-system cancers
25: How is noise pollution measured?
decibels (dB)
26: What are some voluntary exposures to pollutants?
Tobacco, alcohol and other drugs
27: What is meant by the quote, “everything is poisonous, yet nothing is poisonous”? Explain.
Tobacco, alcohol and other drugs
28: Describe the “dose-response”. Draw and label the generalized dose-response curve. Explain each step.
a certain chemical on an individual depends on the dose. As the concentration of a substance increases, the more beneficial to life it is. Point A is the point where the concentration is neither beneficial or harmful. Point B is where the high concentration becomes an increasing benefit. The points between B and C is the place of maximum benefit. After this maximum benefit, an increase in concentration will lead to a decreasing benefit. Point D will be just like Point A. After passing point E (more increase in toxins), it will lead to noticeable harm and finally Point F leads to death. The space from point D and F is known to be toxic.
29: Define the following:
• LD-50:crude approximation of a chemical's toxicity
• ED-50: Dose that causes an effect in 50% of the observed subjects
• TD-50: dose that is toxic to 50% of observed subjects
• LD-0: maximum dose that doesn't cause any deaths
30: Explain the concept of a threshold dose:
A threshold dose is the maximum dosage before there would be effects on something. Below the threshold would cause no harm. Above the threshold would affect the person. Having no threshold would mean that even a little drop could have some negative effect
31: Define:
• Behavioral tolerance:
Behavioral Tolerance refers to a person that is subjected to a certain amount of drugs or alcohol over a long period of time and how their body adjusts to need more.
increased risk of contracting leukemia, lymphomas, and nervous-system cancers
25: How is noise pollution measured?
decibels (dB)
26: What are some voluntary exposures to pollutants?
Tobacco, alcohol and other drugs
27: What is meant by the quote, “everything is poisonous, yet nothing is poisonous”? Explain.
Tobacco, alcohol and other drugs
28: Describe the “dose-response”. Draw and label the generalized dose-response curve. Explain each step.
a certain chemical on an individual depends on the dose. As the concentration of a substance increases, the more beneficial to life it is. Point A is the point where the concentration is neither beneficial or harmful. Point B is where the high concentration becomes an increasing benefit. The points between B and C is the place of maximum benefit. After this maximum benefit, an increase in concentration will lead to a decreasing benefit. Point D will be just like Point A. After passing point E (more increase in toxins), it will lead to noticeable harm and finally Point F leads to death. The space from point D and F is known to be toxic.
29: Define the following:
• LD-50:crude approximation of a chemical's toxicity
• ED-50: Dose that causes an effect in 50% of the observed subjects
• TD-50: dose that is toxic to 50% of observed subjects
• LD-0: maximum dose that doesn't cause any deaths
30: Explain the concept of a threshold dose:
A threshold dose is the maximum dosage before there would be effects on something. Below the threshold would cause no harm. Above the threshold would affect the person. Having no threshold would mean that even a little drop could have some negative effect
31: Define:
• Behavioral tolerance:
Behavioral Tolerance refers to a person that is subjected to a certain amount of drugs or alcohol over a long period of time and how their body adjusts to need more.
• Physiological tolerance:
results when the body of an individual adjusts to tolerate a higher level of pollutant.
• Genetic tolerance:
32: Explain the difference between an acute and chronic effect.
Acute effects occurs soon after exposure, usually to large amounts of pollutants.
Chronic effects occur over a long period of time usually to small amounts of pollutants
33: Explain the steps of risk assessment:
1. Identification of the hazard- This consists of testing materials to determine whether exposure is likely to cause health problems
33: Explain the steps of risk assessment:
1. Identification of the hazard- This consists of testing materials to determine whether exposure is likely to cause health problems
2. Dose-response assessment- involves identifying relationships between the dose of a chemical and the health effects on people
3. Exposure assessment- evaluates the intensity, duration and frequency of human exposure to a particular chemical pollutant or toxin
4. Risk characterization- Delineate health risk in terms of magnitude of the magnitude of the health problem that might result from exposure to particular pollutant or toxin.
34: What is the precautionary principle?
Read: “Is Lead in the Urban Environment Contributing to Antisocial Behavior”
35: What is the main point of the discussion about lead in the bones of children and behavior?
A concentration of lead in the human system at a young age would lead to bones associated with an increased risk of attention-deficit disorder, aggressive behavior and delinquency
36: Why is it diffcult to establish standards for acceptable levels of pollution? In giving your answer, sonsider physical, climatological, biological, social. and ethical reasons.
34: What is the precautionary principle?
Read: “Is Lead in the Urban Environment Contributing to Antisocial Behavior”
35: What is the main point of the discussion about lead in the bones of children and behavior?
A concentration of lead in the human system at a young age would lead to bones associated with an increased risk of attention-deficit disorder, aggressive behavior and delinquency
36: Why is it diffcult to establish standards for acceptable levels of pollution? In giving your answer, sonsider physical, climatological, biological, social. and ethical reasons.
Pollution induces toxicity. Toxicity is harmful. The toxicity will increase when the same pollution agent continues to operate. It is a time consuming job to determine tolerable levels of toxicity for every toxic agent. Socially conscious organizations work in this sphere of technology to find solutions. Most of the organizations work in isolation. The knowledge pool remains fragmented all over the world. Business interest, social compulsions, political aspirations, aggressive industrialization and geopolitical interest all add to the rate of pollution. Most of the time neutralizing polluting agents does not generate money in fact it adds to cost of manufacturing. Industries do not take proactive measure unless legally compelled to do so. In many cases toxicity is identified after a long period of gestation. In such cases it becomes legally difficult to identify the responsible industry or the perpetrators. These are the major heterogeneous causes that make it difficult to establish acceptable levels of pollution.