Read: Toxic Air Pollution and Human Health: Story of a Southeast Houston Neighborhood 1: What are some of the

chronic health effects of exposure to Benzene?

Decrease in red blood cells, also cause excessive bleeding and can affect the immune system

2: What are some of the potential sources of Benzene in the environment? Petroleum products 3: Why is it so hard to link health problems to toxic air pollution? There are a lot of chemicals in the air that are difficult to trace to a health problem 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? Because they may not be diagnosed, but may not be healthy 5: Explain what happened at Lake Nyos, Cameroon. Massive natural release of carbon dioxide, flowed down hills, and killed many people and animals by asphyxiation 6: What is the difference between a pollutant and a contaminant? Pollutant may not always be harmful but can be destructive, contaminant is harmful to the organisms who use whatever is affected 7: Define the following: Toxin: an antigenic poison or venom of plant or animal origin, esp. one produced by or derived from microorganisms and causing disease when present at low concentration in the body Toxicology: the branch of science concerned with the nature, effects, and detection of poisons. Carcinogen: a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue Synergism: the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects Point sources: a localized and stationary pollution source Give example: smoke stack Area sources (non-point): Small collective sources that are inventoried as a group Give example: agricultural runoff

 Mobile sources: moving source of pollution Give example: automobile exhaust 8: Dene the following: (Identify when they are used) ppm: parts per million, measuring small amounts of toxins ppb: parts per billion, measuring small amounts of toxins mg/L: milligrams per litre, units of concentration in water pollution g/m3: micrograms per litre, units of concentration in water pollution 9: What is an Infectious Agent? (Give examples): An agent capable of producing infection, such as: anthrax, tuberculosis 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 Seeped into the soil, and produced acid rain 11: What are some common heavy metals found in the environment? What health hazards can they pose to humans? Mercury, lead, cadmium, nickel, gold, platinum, silver, bismuth, arsenic, selenium, vanadium, chromium, and thallium, direct physiological toxic effects 12: What is the concept of Body Burden? The quantity of heavy metals in our bodies What are the body burdens for the following? Antimony: 8mg Mercury: 13mg Arsenic: 18mg Cadmium: 30mg Lead: 150mg 13: Dene biomagnication/bioaccumulation:

The accumulation or increasing concentration of a substance in living tissue as it moves through a food web 14: Describe how Cadmium is a good example of biomagnication. Enter the environment via ash from burning coal. The cadmium in coal is in very low concentrations (less than 0.05 ppm). However, after coal is burned in a power plant, the ash is collected in a solid form and disposed of in a landfill. The landfill is covered with soil and revegetated. The low concentration of cadmium in the ash and soil is taken into the plants as they grow, but the concentration of cadmium in the plants is three to five times greater than the concentration in the ash. As the cadmium moves through the food chain, it becomes more and more concentrated 15: How does Mercury enter the environment? Volcanic eruptions and erosion of natural mercury deposits, burning coal in power plants, incinerating waste, and processing metals such as gold 16: Dene Methylation: The process of replacing a hydrogen atom with a methyl group. 17: Dene Volatilization: Make volatile; cause to pass off in a vapor 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, the chemical form of a pollutant, its activity, and its potential to cause health problems may be changed markedly by ecological and biological processes 18: Dene: Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) and describe the properties that dene them A hazardous organic chemical compound that is resistant to biodegradation and thus remains in the environment for a long time, they have a carbon-based molecular structure, often containing highly reactive chlorine, Most are manufactured by peoplethat is, they are synthetic chemicals, They are persistent in the environmentthey do not easily break down in the environment, They are polluting and toxic, They are soluble in fat and likely to accumulate in living tissue, They occur in forms that allow them to be transported by wind, water, and sediments for long distances Read: A Closer Look 10.3- Dioxin: How Dangerous is it? One of the most toxic man-made chemicals in the environment

How is Dioxin produced? A by-product of chemical reactions What happened in Times Beach, Missouri? Oil sprayed on the towns roads to control dust contained dioxin, and that the entire area had been contaminated 19: Give some examples of HAAs: Some herbicides, pesticides, phthalates, and PCBs 20: Explain how PCBs are harmful (found in plastics): Relationships between PCBs and neurological behavior that results in poor performance on standard intelligence tests Read: A Closer Look 10.4- Demasculinization and Feminization of Frogs Explain how hormone disruptors (Endocrine disruptors) work Switch on a gene that turns testosterone into estrogen, a female sex hormone 21: How can Thermal Pollution affect a body of water and its biodiversity? Explain. Changes the average water temperature and the concentration of dissolved oxygen, thereby changing a rivers species composition 22: What are examples of particulates? Soot and asbestos fibers 23: Why is asbestos harmful to humans? Excessive contact with asbestos has led to asbestosis (a lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos) and to cancer in some industrial workers 24: How can EMF (Electromagnetic Fields) be harmful to humans? Children exposed to EMFs from power lines have an increased risk of contracting leukemia, lymphomas, and nervous-system cancers. 25: How is noise pollution measured? Decibels

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. Too much of any substance can be dangerous, yet in an extremely small amount can be relatively harmless 28: Describe the dose-response. Draw and label the generalized dose-response curve. Explain each step. Larger dose = more extreme response

29: Dene the following: LD-50: dose where 50% of the pop. dies ED-50: the dose that causes an effect in 50% of the observed subjects TD-50: the dose that is toxic to 50% of the observed subjects LD-0: the maximum dose that does not cause any deaths 30: Explain the concept of a threshold dose: a level below which no effect occurs and above which effects begin to occur 31: Dene: Behavioral tolerance: resistance by change of behavior Physiological tolerance: the body of an individual adjusts to tolerate a higher level of pollutant

 Genetic tolerance: some individuals in a population are naturally more resistant to a toxin than others 32: Explain the difference between an acute and chronic effect. Acute is the immediate effects seen after dosed at one time, chronic effects are effects seen over time 33: Explain the steps of risk assessment: Identification of the hazard, Dose-response assessment, Exposure assessment, Risk characterization 34: What is the precautionary principle? The principle that the introduction of a new product or process whose ultimate effects are disputed or unknown should be resisted 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? To discuss how dangerous lead is to children and developing people, and how it can cause unwanted effects 36: Why is it difficult to establish standards for acceptable levels of pollution? In giving your answer, consider physical, climatological, biological, social, and ethical reasons. Some may argue no pollution is acceptable, and any pollution is unacceptable, while companies may fight for necessary pollution