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Biosphere Ch 5-10 > Chapter 10 > Flashcards

Chapter 10 Flashcards

1
Q

Environmental Health

A

assesses environmental factors that influence our health and quality of life

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2
Q

Physical Hazards

A

arise from processes that occur naturally in our environment and pose risks to human life or health; some are ongoing like exposure to UV radiation from sunlight; other events include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fires, floods, landslides, hurricanes, blizzards and droughts

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3
Q

Chemical Hazards

A

include many of the synthetic chemicals that our society manufactures, such as pharmaceuticals, disinfectants and pesticides

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4
Q

Biological Hazards

A

results from ecological interactions among organisms; becoming sick from infection, virus, etc we are suffering parasitism

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5
Q

Cultural Hazards

A

hazards that result from our place of residence, our socioeconomic status, our occupation or our behavioral choices; AKA lifestyle hazards

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6
Q

Noninfectious disease

A

diseases not spread from one person to another; such as cancer and heart disease

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7
Q

Infectious disease

A

invasion by bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites that do spread from person to person

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8
Q

Injury

A

damage or harm to the body

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9
Q

Toxicology

A

the science that examines how poisonous chemicals affect the health of humans and other organisms

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10
Q

Toxicity

A

the degree of harm a chemical substance can inflict

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11
Q

Toxicant

A

a toxic substance or poison

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12
Q

Environmental Toxicology

A

deals specifically with toxic substances that come from or are discharged into the environment

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13
Q

Indoor hazards

A

cigarette smoke, radon (a radioactive gas that seeps up from the ground) both cause lung cancer; asbestos (used in the past as insulation in walls and other products; lead poisoning from water pipes or leaded paint; PBDE’s: polybrominated diphenyl ethers are used as fire retardants in computers, TV’s, plastics and furniture

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14
Q

Synthetic Chemicals

A

made from a natural product that are manufactured or imported; these substances find their way into the air, water and soil

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15
Q

Findings of National Water-Quality Assessment Program

A

.

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16
Q

Findings of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

A

data on 148 foreign compounds in Americans’ bodies: there were several toxic persistent organic pollutants restricted by international treaty; depending on the pollutant they were found in 41-100% of the people; exposure to synthetic chemicals begins in the womb

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17
Q

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring

A

1962 book that brought exposure to the risks of pesticides and DDT was banned as a result

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18
Q

Natural toxins

A

toxic substances can exist naturally in the environment; many plants can produce toxins

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19
Q

Toxicants

A

toxic substances can be classified based on their impacts on health

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20
Q

Carcinogens

A

substances or types of radiation that cause cancer where malignant cells grow uncontrollably creating tumors and damaging the body

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21
Q

Mutagen

A

substances that cause genetic mutations in the DNA of organisms; most have little or no effect but some can lead to severe problems

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22
Q

Teratogens

A

chemicals that cause harm to the unborn and affect the development of human embryos in the womb; can cause birth defects

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23
Q

Neurotoxin

A

damage the nervous system; includes venoms produced by animals, heavy metals such as mercury or lead and some pesticides

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24
Q

Allergens

A

overactivate the immune system causing an immune response when one is not necessary

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25
Q

Pathway inhibitors

A

toxicants that interrupt vital biochemical processes in organisms by blocking one or more steps in important biochemical pathways (ie. endocrine disruptor: mimics the structure of hormone molecules) (i.e. Bisphenol A)

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26
Q

Organism’s natural defenses

A

some organisms produce biological toxins to deter predators or capture prey ie. venom in poisonous snakes and spiders; skin, scales and feathers resist uptake from the natural environment

27
Q

Impacts on surface and groundwater

A

runoff concentrates contaminants; toxic chemicals from urine can make there way into water from wastewater treatment plants; many chemicals are soluable in water so they enter organisms’ tissue through drinking and absorption; aquatic invertebrates, frogs and fish are a good indicator of pollution

28
Q

Impacts on air

A

toxic substances released around the world from agriculture, industrial and domestic activities and may be redistributed by air currents

29
Q

Pesticide drift

A

air currents can carry pesticides to sites far away from agricultural fields

30
Q

Global Distillation

A

toxic substance can be carried great distances especially to Earth’s polar regions because of the natural patterns of global atmospheric circulation; lots of contaminants have been found in penguins, polar bears and people living in Greenland

31
Q

Bioaccumulation

A

persistent toxicants accumulate in an organism’s body such that the organism’s tissues have a greater concentration of the substance than exists in the surrounding environment

32
Q

Biomagnification

A

toxic substances that accumulate in an organism’s tissues may be transferred to other organisms as predators consume prey; when one organism consumes another the predator takes in any stored toxicants and stores them in its own body; takes place on all trophic levels

33
Q

Persistent toxins

A

Bt toxin used in GM crops has a short persistent time but DDT and PCBs persist for decades; the rate at which a substance degrades depends on its chemistry and other factors like temp, moisture and sun exposure

34
Q

Threat to ecosystem services

A

ie. pesticide exposure has been a factor in the decline of honeybee populations; ie. when soils are exposed to harmful chemicals nutrient cycling can be altered

35
Q

Wildlife studies

A

scientists study the impacts of environmental hazards on wild animals to help conserve animal populations and also understand potential risks to people

36
Q

Louis Guillette

A

alligators in lakes in Florida receiving agricultural runoff had higher rates of reproductive problems; early work tying environmental chemicals to endocrine disruption

37
Q

Tyrone Hayes

A

frogs raised in water containing atrazine became feminized and hermaphroditic: developing both testes and ovaries; hormonal problems

38
Q

Case history

A

process of observing and analyzing individual patients; have advanced our understanding of human illness

39
Q

Epidemiological Studies

A

large-scale comparisons among groups of people, usually contrasting a group known to have been exposed to some hazard against a group that has not

40
Q

Manipulative Studies

A

specifically changing factors being studied and seeing how things change; manipulates the independent variable

41
Q

Animal Testing

A

the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study.

42
Q

Dose-response analysis

A

scientists quanitfy the toxicity of a substance by measuring the strength of its effect or the number of animals affected at different doses; standard method of testing with lab animals in toxicology

43
Q

Dose-response curve

A

response quantified by measuring the proportion of animals exhibiting negative impacts and the data is plotted on a graph with dose on the x-axis and the response on the y-axis

44
Q

LD 50

A

Lethal-dose 50; label for if 50% of the animals are killed; high LD 50 indicates low toxicity for a substance and a low LD 50 indicates high toxicity

45
Q

ED 50

A

Effective-dose 50; if 50% of the animals are effected in some other way such as reproductive abnormalities or growths

46
Q

Threshold dose

A

below this threshold doses have no measurable effect; might be expected if an organism’s body can fully metabolize or excrete a toxicant at low doses

47
Q

Acute Exposure

A

exposure to a toxicant occuring in high amounts for short periods of time

48
Q

Chronic exposure

A

exposure for long periods of time to a toxicant occuring in low amounts

49
Q

Synergistic effects

A

an interactive effect that is more than or different from the simple sum of their constituent effects

50
Q

Endocrine Disruption Issues

A

substances have been linked to effects on reproduction, development, immune function, brain and nervous system function

51
Q

Perception vs. Probability of Risk

A

Our perception of risk does not always match reality; risk of dying 1 in 6 heart disease, 1 in 7 cancer, 1 in 29 smoke;

52
Q

Quantitative Assessment

A

the quantitative measurement of risk and the comparison of risks involved in different activities or substances together; used to identify and outline problems

53
Q

Risk management

A

decisions and strategies to minimize risk

54
Q

Cost-benefit analysis

A

look at scientific and nonscientific concerns before making decisions on whether and how to reduce or eliminate risk; benefits are often economic and costs often pertain to health

55
Q

EPA

A

environmental protection agency

56
Q

CDC

A

centers for disease control and prevention

57
Q

FDA

A

food and drug administration

58
Q

New product safety testing

A

industrial research & development -> pre-market testing by industry, government and academic scientists -> consumer use of products -> post-market testing by industry, government and academic scientists -> regulations and bans of unsafe products -> consumer use of safe products

59
Q

Innocent until proven guilty

A

products brought to the market after little testing; some fraction of them may cause harm to people

60
Q

Precautionary principle

A

bringing substances to market only after extensive testing; some say chemical manufacturers should bear the burden of proof for the safety of their products before they hit the market; the principle that the introduction of a new product or process whose ultimate effects are disputed or unknown should be resisted

61
Q

EPA’s Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)

A

law by the EPA that regulates synthetic chemicals not covered by other laws

62
Q

European Union: Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of Chemicals (REACH)

A

program that shifts the burden for testing chemical safety from national governments to industry and requires that chemical substances produced or imported in amounts over 1 metric ton per yr to be registered with a new European Chemicals Agency; went into effect in 2007

63
Q

Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants

A

came into force in 2004; (PoPs) toxic chemicals that persist in the environment, bioaccumulate and biomagnify up the food chain and can travel long distances

Biosphere Ch 5-10 (5 decks)

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