Chapter 14 Study Questions:



Name: ________________________________________________________________ Per. _____ Due Date: __________________________________________** When considering specific health effect, consider how it may affect multiple systems such as immune, nervous, reproductive, and endocrine. Biological Hazards How would you encounter this?Specific heath risks** (see above)Example (research current news article)Example 1: Example 2: Chemical Hazards How would you encounter this?Specific heath risks** (see above)Example (research current news article)Example 1: Example 2: Physical HazardsHow would you encounter this?Specific heath risks** (see above)Example (research current news article)Example 1: Example 2: Cultural HazardsHow would you encounter this?Specific heath risks** (see above)Example (research current news article)Example 1: Example 2: Indoor Health HazardsHow would you encounter this?Specific heath risks** (see above)Example (research current news article)For this section, please use the Tox Town website to research more detailed health risks: smokeRadonAsbestos-LeadPBDEsBPAsChapter 14 Study Questions:Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper: In what way is disease the greatest hazard that people face? What kinds of interrelationships must environmental health experts study to learn about how diseases affect human health?Explain how globalization has contributed to increased speed of disease transmission. Find one example from the news to support this.In your table above, indicate which hazard falls under the six general categories of toxicants. If you don’t have an example of one of the toxicants, list another example. One way to approach this is come up with a color coding system and then use a marker to highlight examples. E.g. red for carcinogen, yellow for mutagen, etc. Keep in mind that one substance may have multiple types of effects. E.g. PCB’s are allergens, neurotoxins, endocrine disrupters, and What is the difference between bioaccumulation and biomagnifications? Why has research on endocrine disruption spurred so much debate? What steps do you think could be taken to help establish greater consensus among scientists, industry, regulators, policymakers, and the public?Describe differences in the policies of the United States and the European Union toward the study and management of the risks of synthetic chemicals. Which do you believe is better, the policies of the United States or those of the European Union and why? Be certain to include the Toxic Substances Control Act in your answer.Read the following scenario and answer the following multiple choice questions.Mercury is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in minerals and rocks. Release of mercury from natural sources has been relatively constant over time. However, anthropogenic release of mercury has increased significantly in recent years primarily due to increased fossil fuel mining and combustion. Mercury that is released into the air eventually ends up in soils or surface water. Once in water, microbes convert mercury into methyl mercury, which is absorbed quickly and concentrated in the tissues of predatory fish such as shark and swordfish. Large fish typically concentrate more mercury than small fish. People who eat fish with high methyl mercury concentrations can show tremors, deafness, muscle incoordination, and attention deficits. Pregnant women and children are especially sensitive to methyl mercury's toxic effects. Learning disabilities and developmental delays are common in children who have been exposed to significant levels of methyl mercury. Which of the following U.S. agencies is primarily responsible for addressing issues regarding mercury pollution?DOEEPAUSDABLMOSHAPrior to 2005, no rules regulating mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants existed in the U.S. This represents the ________.precautionary principleinnocent-until-proven-guilty approachdose-response initiativecase-study approachAmes approachMercury is to methylmercury as DDT is to ________.DDEDEPPOPPCBPBPBased upon the specific health effects described above, mercury would be best classified as a ________.synergistneurotoxincarcinogenendocrine disruptorallergenMercury is not readily excreted; it is stored in mammalian body tissues. This is best described as ________.distillationtoxificationbiomagnificationbioaccumulationsynergismDDT Case Study and Biomagnification Caluclations. 19050907415DDT stands for dichloro, diphenyl trichloroethane. It is a chlorinated hydrocarbon, a class of chemicals which often fit the characteristics necessary for biomagnification. DDT has a half-life of 15 years, which means if you use 100 kg of DDT, it will break down as shown in the table to the left.This means that after 100 years, there will still be over a pound of DDT in the environment. If it does bioaccumulate and biomagnify, much of the DDT will be in the bodies of organisms. DDT actually has rather low toxicity to humans (but high toxicity to insects, hence its use as an insecticide). Because it could be safely handled by humans, it was extensively used shortly after its discovery just before WW II. During the war, it was used to reduce mosquito populations and thus control malaria in areas where US troops were fighting (particularly in the tropics). It was also used on civilian populations in Europe, to prevent the spread of lice and the diseases they carried. Refugee populations and those living in destroyed cities would have otherwise faced epidemics of louse-borne diseases. After the war, DDT became popular not only to protect humans from insect-borne diseases, but to protect crops as well. As the first of the modern pesticides, it was overused, and soon led to the discovery of the phenomena of insect resistance to pesticides, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification.By the 1960's, global problems with DDT and other pesticides were becoming so pervasive that they began to attract much attention. Credit for sounding the warning about DDT and biomagnification usually goes to the scientist Rachel Carson, who wrote the influential book Silent Spring (1962). The silent spring alluded to in the title describes a world in which all the songbirds have been poisoned. Her book of course was attacked by many with vested interests. DDT has been banned for agricultural us in the United States since 1972. DDT was subsequently banned for agricultural use worldwide under the Stockholm Convention, but its limited use in disease vector control continues to this day and remains controversial. It is still used primarily for malaria control in developing nations. Along with the passage of the Endangered Species Act, the US ban on DDT is cited by scientists as a major factor in the comeback of the bald eagle, the national bird of the United States, and the peregrine falcon from near-extinction in the contiguous US. Use the table above to answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper. Show all work for the calculations. The concentration of DDT in the water of a lake was found to be 1.0 X 10-8 ppm. How many times more concentrated is the DDT in the producers as compared to the water?Calculate the ratios of DDT between trophic levels, as it accumulates from producers to primary consumers, primary consumers to secondary consumers, and secondary consumers to tertiary consumers. Finally, calculate the increase from producers to tertiary consumers. If 1500kg of DDT was last applied to Lake Washington in 1972 to control mosquitoes, how much DDT will be left in the lake in 2017? ................
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