Environmental Health Flashcards
Pollutant
Substance that harm living organisms through air, soil, or water
Neurotoxin
Attacks nerve cells
Carcinogen
Attacks cell DNA, causing cancer
Teratogen
Attacks developing cells, causing abnormalities during embryonic growth and development
Allergen
Activate immune system, causing an allergic reaction
Endocrine system
mimic sex hormones, damaging systems
Toxic substances from human activity
Pesticides and herbicides
Toxins can be
Water soluble or fat soluble
Water soluble
easily dissolve in water
Fat soluble
dissolve instead in fat
Biomagnification
substances increase in concentration at each successive trophic level in the food chain
EPA Risk Assessment Practices
- Identification of hazard
- Dose-response assessment
- Exposure assessment
- Risk characterization
Identification of hazard
identify the contaminants suspected of causing health problems
Dose-response assessment
what are the health problems associated with different exposure
Exposure Assessment
how much of the pollutant are people exposed to over a given period of time
Risk characterization
what is the extra risk of health problems in the exposed population
Bacteria
single-celled microbe
virus
infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism
parasite
an organism that lives in another organism (host), host harmed by parasite and parasite gets benefits from the host
Zoonotic disease
spread from animals to humans
antibiotic resistance
when pathogens develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them
