Chapter 19

Question 1

risk assessment

Answer 1

is the scientific process of estimating how much harm a particular hazard can cause to human health.

Question 2

risk management

Answer 2

involves deciding whether or how to reduce a particular risk to a certain level and at what cost.

Question 3

risk

Answer 3

is the possibility of suffering harm from a hazard that can cause injury, disease, death, economic loss, or environmental damage.

Question 4

probability

Answer 4

a mathematical statement about how likely one is to suffer harm from a hazard.

Question 5

toxicity

Answer 5

measures how harmful a substance is in causing injury, illness, or death to a living organism.

Question 6

dose

Answer 6

the amount of a substance a person has ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through their skin.

Question 7

bioaccumulation

Answer 7

in which some molecules are absorbed and stored in specific organs or tissues at higher than normal levels.

Question 8

biomagnification

Answer 8

in which levels of some levels of some potential toxins in the environment are magnified as they pass through food chains and webs.

Question 9

response

Answer 9

the type and amount of health damage resulting from exposure to a chemical or other agent.

Question 10

poison/toxin

Answer 10

is a chemical that adversely affects the health of a living human or animal by causing injury, illness, or death.

Question 11

median lethal dose or LD50

Answer 11

the amount received in one dose that kills 50% of the animals (usually rats and mice) in a test population within a 14-day period.

Question 12

dose response curve

Answer 12

shows the effects of various dosages of a toxic agent on a group of test organisms.

Question 13

nonthreshold dose-response model

Answer 13

any dosage of a toxic chemical or ionizing radiation causes harm that increase with the dosage.

Question 14

threshold dose-response model

Answer 14

a threshold dosage must be reached before any detectable harmful effects, occur presumably low dosages of some substances.

Question 15

toxic chemical

Answer 15

is a chemical, through its chemical action on life processes, can cause temporary or permanent harm or death to humans or animals.

Question 16

hazardous chemical

Answer 16

can harm humans or other animals because it is flammable or explosive or because it can irritate or damage the skin or lungs, interfere with oxygen uptake, or induce allergic reactions.

Question 17

mutagens

Answer 17

chemicals or ionizing radiation that cause or increase the frequency of random mutations, or changes, in the DNA molecules found in cells.

Question 18

teratogens

Answer 18

chemicals that can cause harm or birth defects to a fetus or embryo.

Question 19

carcinogens

Answer 19

chemicals or ionizing radiation that can cause or promote cancer.

Question 20

cancer

Answer 20

the growth of a malignant (cancerous) tumor, in which certain cells multiply uncontrollably.

Question 21

metastasis

Answer 21

when malignant cells break off from tumors and travel in body fluids to other parts of the body.

Question 22

hormone mimics

Answer 22

are chemicals similar to estrogens (female sex hormones) they can disrupt the endocrine system by attaching to estrogen receptor molecules

Question 23

hormone blockers

Answer 23

disrupt the endocrine system by preventing natural hormones such as androgens (male sex hormones) from attaching to their receptors.

Question 24

precautionary principle

Answer 24

when there is plausible but incomplete scientific evidence (frontier science evidence) of significant harm to humans or the environmental from a proposed or existing chemical or technology, we should take action to prevent or reduce the risk instead of waiting for more conclusive (sound or consensus science) evidence.

Question 25

nontransmissable disease

Answer 25

is caused by something other than a living organism and does not spread from one person to another.

Question 26

transmissible disease

Answer 26

is caused by a living organism and can spread from one person to another.

Question 27

dengue fever

Answer 27

painful and sometimes fatal
carried by four related viruses and strikes during rainy season
2.5 million people at risk; 50 million new cases a year.

Question 28

malaria

Answer 28

is caused by a parasite that is spread by the bites of certain mosquito species.

Question 29

yellow fever

Answer 29

dreaded far more than 400 years.
viral disease that causes symptoms from mild to severe illness and death
200000 new cases and 30000 deaths a year.

Question 30

HIV

Answer 30

(human immunodeficiency virus) that is transmitted by unsafe sex, sharing needles by drug users, infected mothers to offspring before birth, and exposure to infected blood.

Question 31

influenza

Answer 31

is transmitted by the body fluids or airborne emissions of an infected person and kills about 1 million people a year.

Question 32

hepatitis B virus

Answer 32

damages the liver and kills about 1 million people a year. transmitted by unsafe sex, sharing of needles by drug users, infected mothers to offspring before or during birth, and exposure to infected blood.

Question 33

risk analysis

Answer 33

involves identifying hazards and evaluating their associated risks (risk assessment), ranking risks (comparative risk analysis), determining options and making decisions about reducing or eliminating risks (risk management) and informing decision makers and the public about risks (risk communication)