Comp 4

Table of Contents

Chapter 8 Environmental Health and Toxicology

Environmental Health pg. 2

Global Disease Burden is Changing pg. 2

Pathogens are Disease causing Organisms pg. 2

Outbreaks of Infectious Diseases pg. 2

The Spread of West Nile Virus pg. 3

Conservation Medicine Combines Ecology and Health Care pg. 3

Resistance to Antibiotics and Pesticides is Increasing pg. 3

Why the U.S. Should Pay More for World Healthcare pg. 3

Toxicology pg.3

How Do Toxins Affect Us? Pg.3

Sick Building Syndrome pg.3

Classes of Harmful Agents pg. 4

Endocrine Hormone Disrupters are of Special Concern pg. 4

Movement, Distribution and Fate of Toxins pg. 4

Solubility and Mobility Determine When and Where Chemicals Move pg. 4

Exposure and Susceptibility Determine How Organisms Respond pg. 4

Bioaccumulation and Biomagnifications pg. 4

Persistence Makes Some Materials a Greater Threat pg. 4

Chemical Interactions can Increase Toxicity pg. 4

Mechanisms for Minimizing Toxic Effects pg. 4

Measuring Toxicity pg.5

Toxins Can Have Acute or Chronic Doses and Effects pg. 5

Risk Assessment and Acceptance pg. 5

Our Perception of Risks Isn’t Always Rational pg. 5

How Much Risk is Acceptable? Pg. 5

Establishing Public Policy pg. 5

Chapter 12 Energy

Energy Resources and Uses pg. 5

Fossil Fuels Supply Most of Our Energy pg. 5

How Do We Use Energy pg. 5

Fossil Fuels pg. 6

Coal Resources Are Vast pg.6

Coal Burning Releases Huge Amounts of Air Pollution pg. 6

Have We passed Peak Oil? Pg. 6

Domestic Oil Suppliers are Limited pg. 6

High efficiency Cars Can Help Reduce Dependence on Foreign Oil pg. 6

Oil Shale’s and Tar sands Contain Huge amounts of Petroleum pg. 6

Natural Gas is the World’s Third Largest Commercial Fuel pg. 6

Nuclear Power pg. 7

How Do Nuclear reactors Work? Pg. 7

Nuclear Reactor Design pg. 7

We Lack Safe Storage for Radioactive Waste pg. 7

Chapter 15 Environmental Policy

Environmental Policy and Law pg. 7

What drives Policy Making? Pg. 7

Public Citizenship is Also a Powerful Force pg. 7

The Next Policy Step is Implementation pg. 7

Building Support is Central to Policy Development pg. 8

Cost benefit Analysis can Aid Priority Setting pg. 8

Major Environmental Laws pg. 8

The U.S. Clean Air Act Regulates Air Emissions pg. 8

The Clean Water Act Protects Surface Water pg. 8

The Endangered Species Act Protects Wildlife pg. 8

The Superfund Act Lists Hazardous Sites pg. 8

How Are Policies Made? pg. 8

The Legislative Branch Establishes Statutes pg. 8

The Judicial Branch Resolves Legal Disputes pg. 8

International Treaties and Conventions pg. 8

Enforcement Depends on National Pride pg. 9

What Can Individuals Do? pg. 9

Environmental Education Supports Society pg. 9

Consider How Much is Enough? Pg. 9

COMPILATION 4

CHAPTER 8 Environmental Health and Toxicology

Environmental Health

Health is more than just the way you feel it is the well being of life. A disease is an unnatural change within the body that damages physical and mental functions. To be sick or to be ill means morbidity while when the body dies is called morality. Environmental health focuses on the factors that cause the body to break down due to disease and also the effects that social, cultural and technological element.

Global Disease Burden is Changing

Now day’s terrible complications such as heart attacks and depression are taking their toll in countries that do not necessarily consider themselves rich. Which is causing health organizations to open their eyes and realize that such problems are becoming more relevant than infections and other diseases.

Pathogens are Disease causing Organisms

Pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, parasitic worms and flukes are some of the wide variety of pathogens that attack the human body.

Outbreaks of Infectious Diseases

Emergent diseases are diseases that are not know or that have been absent for at least 20 years. Over the past 20 years there have been at least 40 outbreaks of emergent diseases including Ebola and Marburg fever.

The Spread of West Nile Virus

West Nile Virus comes from mosquitoes that have been contracted with the virus and if they bite you then it can cause brain inflammation. West Nile virus was able to stay out of the USA until 1999.

 http://www.torranceca.gov/8661.htm Accessed on May 3, 2012

Conservation Medicine Combines Ecology and Health Care

When wildlife gets disturbed by diseases and outbreaks occur is called ecological disease. The one thing that ecological disease and emergent diseases have in common is that they both affect the environment and ecological relationships. In attempt to understand how environmental change threatens our health and well being is known as conservation medicine.

Resistance to Antibiotics and Pesticides is Increasing

Over the years mosquitoes and other organisms have become resistant to both pesticides and antibiotics. While this is alarming part of the reason is because many organisms are able to evolve at rapid paces and also human’s use of control is slacking.

Why the U.S. Should Pay More for World Healthcare

While many developing nations are dealing with the worst types of disease many of which are treatable wealthy nations choose to overlook them. Reasons for this is wealthier countries are more focused on treating baldness, depression of dogs and erectile dysfunction. It does not seem fair but there are organizations out there that really do want to make a difference including the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

Toxicology

The study of the adverse effects of outside factors of an organism and also a system is known as toxicology. This would also include environmental chemicals, drugs and diet. Also physical factors such as ionizing radiation, UV light and electromagnetic forces. Toxins are still harmful after being diluted and the slightest outbreak can cause terrible damage. Environmental toxicology deals with the interactions and transformations that the toxins cause in the biosphere.

 Accessed on May 3, 2012 http://library.thinkquest.org/27224/

How Do Toxins Affect Us?

Allergens are substances that help activate the immune system and can act like antigens. An antigen is a substance that makes the white blood cells recognize them as foreign to the body and stimulates the production of antibodies. Antibodies are proteins that are produced by our bodies that bind themselves to foreign cells and chemicals.

Sick Building Syndrome

Many chemicals that are used to make plastic, different wood products and glue have formaldehyde concentrations indoors that can be thousands of times higher than normal outdoor air. Sick building syndrome such as headaches, allergies and chronic fatigue is caused by poorly vented indoor air contamination.

Classes of Harmful Agents

Neurotoxins are a class of special metabolic poisons that attack nerve cells. Mutagens are agents such as chemicals and radiation that damage genetic material in cells. Teratogens are chemicals that cause abnormalities during the embryonic growth and development. Carcinogens are substances that cause cancer.

Endocrine Hormone Disrupters are of Special Concern

These are chemicals that interrupt the normal endocrine hormone functions and these chemicals are also known as environmental estrogens or androgens. They cause reproductive health problems in females and cause fertilization problems in men.

Movement, Distribution and Fate of Toxins

Toxins do a lot of moving back and forth between organisms and the environment. Some factors that affect toxicity are the amount, the route of entry and the sensitivity of organisms.

Solubility and Mobility Determine When and Where Chemicals Move

Water soluble compounds can move quickly and are everywhere because water is almost everywhere and molecules that need a carrier to move through the environment and into or within the body.

Exposure and Susceptibility Determine How Organisms Respond

Toxins that are airborne tend to cause more health problems than any other exposure source but that does not mean that food and water contact is not dangerous as well. Age and physical health can also have an effect because if the body is too young or too weak and old then toxins can cause terrible effects.

Bioaccumulation and Biomagnifications

When organisms have the ability to store toxins in their bodies is called Bioaccumulation. Biomagnifications is when the toxin burden of a large number of organisms at a lower trophic level is accumulated and concentrated by a predator at a higher trophic level.

Persistence Makes Some Materials a Greater Threat

While many substance degrade when exposed to the sun or air there are many substances that can last for centuries while bouncing around the ecosystems.

Chemical Interactions can Increase Toxicity

When materials interfere with the effects or stimulate the breakdown of chemicals is known as antagonistic reactions. Synergism is when the interaction of a substance takes over the effects of another.

Mechanisms for Minimizing Toxic Effects

Most organisms have enzymes that process waste products and environmental poisons to reduce their toxicity. Tissues and organs that get exposed to regular wear and tear or that get exposed to hazardous toxins have mechanisms that help repair damage.

Measuring Toxicity

The most simple principle of toxicity is that the dose makes poison meaning that the more diluted the less harmful. Also the way the toxin is delivered can play the role of how severe the toxicity.

 Accessed on May3, 2012 http://www.saawinternational.org/animalexperimentation.htm

Toxins Can Have Acute or Chronic Doses and Effects

Acute effects can be caused by exposure to a toxin and result in an immediate health crisis. Chronic effects are long lasting and in some cases permanent when exposed to a single toxin.

Risk Assessment and Acceptance

Risk is the probability of harm times and the probability of exposure if that chemical is released into the environment. Many environmental hazards can be over looked by the public if all the right facts do not get explained.

Our Perception of Risks Isn’t Always Rational

It is known that people who are involved with political or economical interests tend to downplay risks and emphasize others that fit their needs. Also if we are uneducated in certain areas and have not gone through a bad situation then it seems rare that anything would actually happen.

How Much Risk is Acceptable?

Most people do not care when thing continually occur especially if it does not effect them directly.

Establishing Public Policy

Risk management combines principles of environmental health and toxicology with regulatory decisions based on political and technical considerations.

CHAPTER 12 Energy

Energy Resources and Uses

While in the U.S we spend nearly $400 billion on fossil fuels which include petroleum, natural gas and coal. These fossil fuels supply nearly all of the worlds energy needs.

Fossil Fuels Supply Most of Our Energy

Here in the U.S a large amount of our energy id driven from fossil fuels. Oil makes up 37%, natural gas brings in 24% and coal drives in 23% and renewable energy makes up only 7 % of U.S power.

How Do We Use Energy

The working industry consumes up the most energy in the U.S. while the housing and commercial customers consume about 41%. Transportation is the second highest with a consumption percentage of about 28%.

Fossil Fuels

When organic carbon based compounds get derived from decomposed plants, algae and other organisms that get buried for millions of years they produce fossil fuels. Fossil fuels that have been located can be dated back 360 million years ago. Back then the Earths climate was much warmer and wetter which allowed for the fossil fuels to become much more rich in its deposits.

 Accessed on May 3, 2012 http://library.thinkquest.org/17531/fossil.html

Coal Resources Are Vast

Most of the world’s coal is located in North America, Europe and Asia and also in just three countries which are the U.S, Russia and China. If all of the coal could be extracted then we would have coal for several thousands of years. To do so we would need to weigh the pros and cons. Coal mining is a very dirty and dangerous job because of the diseases it brings and also mines have been known to blow up and collapse.

 Accessed on May 3, 2012 http://bobmccarty.com/2009/11/04/united-states-could-be-energy-independent-if/

Coal Burning Releases Huge Amounts of Air Pollution

Coal is loaded with toxic impurities such as mercury, arsenic, chromium and lead which are all released into the air during combustion. While it is possible to turn coal into a liquid or a gas it is way messier and also more expensive than burning the coal.

Have We passed Peak Oil?

We have used almost half of our oil resources and the competition has raised the barrel price of oil from $15 in 1193 all the way up to $150 in 2008.

Domestic Oil Suppliers are Limited

The U.S has used a majority of its recoverable petroleum resources and in 2010 the rate was down to only about 4 years. That meant that if we all stopped importing fuels then we would have to look at places to start new drilling and a couple of those places would be Artic ocean, continental shelf off California and also the Grand Banks.

High efficiency Cars Can Help Reduce Dependence on Foreign Oil

Since transportation counts for nearly 40% of our oil use in the U.S it seems that we need to be more conservative and efficient when building our cars. This will help out with the dependency of over sea oil.

Oil Shale’s and Tar sands Contain Huge amounts of Petroleum

According to the World Energy Council oil shale’s, tar sands and other deposits contain ten times as much oil as liquid petroleum reserves. While this is costly to energy extraction becomes economically justified because the price of oil keeps climbing.

Natural Gas is the World’s Third Largest Commercial Fuel

Natural gas is cleaner because it only produces about half as much Co2 as an equivalent of coal and by using more natural gases we could help regulate global warming.

Nuclear Power

1953 President Eisenhower proposed his Atoms for Peace speech to the United Nations. He stated that the U.S. would construct nuclear powered electrical generators to provide clean abundant energy. As of today there are 440 reactors worldwide and 104 of them are located in the U.S.

  Accessed on May 3, 2012

How Do Nuclear reactors Work?

Radio active uranium atoms are unstable until they get struck by a high energy subatomic particle called a neutron; they undergo nuclear fission by releasing energy and more neutrons.

Nuclear Reactor Design

Of the worlds total nuclear plants about 70% of them are pressurized water reactors. Water circulates through the core absorbing heat as it cools the fuel rods. This cooling water is heated to 317 degrees and reaches a pressure of 2,235 psi. Then it gets pumped into a steam generator where it heats up a secondary water cooling loop. Then the steam from the second loop drives a high speed turbine generator that makes electricity.

We Lack Safe Storage for Radioactive Waste

The most difficult thing about nuclear power is the mess it creates and if it doesn’t get cleaned up and stored properly then many environmental problems may occur. It was not until 1987 that the first high level waste repository was built on a dessert ridge in the Yucca Mountain range in Nevada. The waste was to be buried and remain unexposed to groundwater and earthquakes. But Obama cut off funding for the project in 2009 and the $100 billion that was used for research went to waste.

CHAPTER 15 Environmental Policy

Environmental Policy and Law

A rule or decision about how to take action when dealing with problems is known as a policy. Environmental policy is geared around taking care of the environment and public health.

What drives Policy Making?

Economic groups, labor unions and wealthy powerful individuals influence control and policy making. For the ones that do not have the money or the power tend to form groups that protest and hold public meetings to get their words across.

Public Citizenship is Also a Powerful Force

The clean water act and the clean air act are results of citizens putting their thoughts and ideas together and prove that this might be the best way to deal in a democratic government.

The Next Policy Step is Implementation

After the government passes a law it needs to be watched and enforced. Also after years the laws may need to be improved and re evaluated.

Building Support is Central to Policy Development

Lobbyist is hired to dedicate all of their time to support legislatures and also finance commentators on the radio and TV promote certain viewpoints.

Cost benefit Analysis can Aid Priority Setting

Cost benefit analysis is a comparison of the magnitude of costs and benefits. Ideally the benefits should outweigh the costs but it does not always workout that way.

Major Environmental Laws

Laws that control our drinking water, the air we breathe and the food we eat are very important and need to be taken seriously.

The U.S. Clean Air Act Regulates Air Emissions

This act provided the first standard rules to follow when identifying and helping to reduce air contaminants.

The Clean Water Act Protects Surface Water

The act was geared around making water fishable and swimmable. The first order of business was trying to stop pipe discharges from factories and sewage treatment plants.

The Endangered Species Act Protects Wildlife

The 1973 act helped identify and list species that were nearing extinction and also that were at risk of becoming close to extinction. Once a species makes the endangered lists then the ESA sets certain laws for protecting that species.

The Superfund Act Lists Hazardous Sites

This act was most known for its ability to shutdown and clean up abandoned toxic sites. The act also addressed orphan sites, emergency spills and uncontrolled contamination.

How Are Policies Made?

Environmental Laws are found at the local, national and international levels and laws can also be established at the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government.

The Legislative Branch Establishes Statutes

Federal laws are enacted by Congress and signed by the President. Citizens can also play a role in this process by writing or calling their elected representatives.

The Judicial Branch Resolves Legal Disputes

The Judicial Branch decides what the law means, whether or not the law has been broken and also whether or not a law violates the Constitution. The reason for laws needing to be interpreted is because they are sometimes written in ways people do not understand.

International Treaties and Conventions

The reason for treaties is because many countries do not want to act alone when it comes to protecting the environment. These treaties are the perfect time for them to protect their own resources and interests.

Enforcement Depends on National Pride

Most countries do not want to look unsurperior in front of other countries so they are easily persuaded to join the rest of the countries with trying to find new ways to protect the environment.

What Can Individuals Do?

Simple things such as communicating ideas of environmental science to educators, policy makers and business leaders is a good way to spread your ideas.

Environmental Education Supports Society

The act that was passed in 1990 known as the National Environmental Education Act helps identify environmental education as national priority.

Consider How Much is Enough?

With all the trash we consume and dump can cause many problems on earth and needs to be monitored very closely. Responsible consumerism also needs to be in the front of everyone’s mind so that we can protect the earth.