Chapter 10 Terms

Front 1

bisphenol A (BPA)

Back 1

Chemical found to alter reproductive development in animals. This substance has been linked to breast cancer, prostate cancer, and heart disease. It has also been associated with everything from neurological effects to miscarriages.

Front 2

Environmental Health

Back 2

The study and practice of environmental health assesses environmental factors that influence our health and quality of life. These factors include wholly natural aspects of the environment over which we have little or no control, as well as anthropogenic (human-caused) factors.

Front 3

What are the four main types of environmental health hazards?

Back 3

Physical, chemical, biological, and cultural.

Front 4

Physical Hazards

Back 4

Arise from processes that occur naturally in our environment and pose ricks to human life or health. Some are ongoing natural phenomena, such as excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight. Also include discrete events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fires, floods, landslides, hurricanes, and droughts.

Front 5

Chemical Hazards

Back 5

Include many of the synthetic chemicals that our society manufactures, such as pharmaceuticals, disinfectants, and pesticides. Some natural substances that we process for our use (such as hydrocarbons, lead, and asbestos) are also harmful to human health.

Front 6

Biological Hazards

Back 6

Result from ecological interactions among organisms. When we become sick from a virus, bacterial infection, or other pathogen, we are suffering parasitism.

Front 7

Infectious Disease

Back 7

When we become sick from a virus, bacterial infection, or other pathogen, we are suffering parasitism. Malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, and influenza (flu) are major environmental health hazards, especially in developing countries.

Front 8

Cultural Hazards

Back 8

Hazards that result from our place of residence, our socioeconomic status, our occupation, or our behavioral choices can be thought of as cultural hazards or lifestyle hazards. Examples are cigarette smoking, drug use, diet and nutrition, crime, and mode of transportation.

Front 9

Infectious diseases account for almost ____ of every ____ deaths that occur each year, nearly ____ million people worldwide.

Back 9

One of every 4 deaths, nearly 14 million

Front 10

Toxicology

Back 10

Is the science that examines the effects of poisonous chemicals on humans and other organisms.

Front 11

Toxicity

Back 11

The degree of harm a chemical substance can inflict.

Front 12

Toxicant

Back 12

Is a toxic substance, or poison. Any chemical substance may exert negative impacts if we ingest or expose ourselves to enough of it.

Front 13

Environmental Toxicology

Back 13

Deals specifically with toxic substances that come from or are discharged into the environment. Toxicologists generally focus on human health, using other organisms as models and test subjects.

Front 14

What are the top two cause of lung cancer in

developed nations?

Back 14

Cigarette smoke and Radon

Front 15

What are polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)?

Back 15

Compounds that are used as fire retardants in computers, televisions, plastics, and furniture, and they may evaporate at very slow rates throughout the lifetime of the product. PBDEs appear to act as a hormone disruptors.

Front 16

Carcinogens

Back 16

Are substances or types of radiation that cause cancer. In cancer, malignant cells grow uncontrollably, creating tumors, damaging the body, and often leading to death.

Front 17

Mutagens

Back 17

Are substances that cause genetic mutations in the DNA or organisms. Although most mutations have little or no effect, some can lead to severe problems, including cancer and other disorders.

Front 18

Teratogtens

Back 18

Chemicals that cause harm to the unborn. Teratogens that affect development of human embryos in the womb can cause birth defects.

Front 19

Neurotoxins

Back 19

Toxicant that assault the nervous system. They include venoms produced by animals, heavy metals such as lead and mercury, and some pesticides.

Front 20

Allergens

Back 20

Overactivate the immune system, causing an immune response when one is not necessary.

Front 21

Pathway Inhibitors

Back 21

Toxicants that interrupt vital biochemical processes in organisms by blocking one or more steps in important biochemical pathways.

Front 22

Endocrine Disruptors

Back 22

Toxic substances that interfere with the endocrine system. The endocrine system consists of chemical messengers (hormones) that travel through the bloodstream at extremely low concentrations and have many vital functions. They stimulate growth, development, and sexual maturity, and they regulate brain function, appetite, sex drive, and many other aspects of our physiology and behavior.

Front 23

Acute Exposure

Back 23

When a person experiences high exposure for short periods of time.

Front 24

Chronic Exposure

Back 24

Low exposure over long periods of time.

Front 25

Bioaccumulation

Back 25

Process where fat- and oil-soluble toxicants accumulate in fatty tissues. Toxic substances that bioaccumulate in an organism's tissues may be transferred to other organisms as predators consume prey.

Front 26

Biomagnification

Back 26

When each individual predator consumes many individuals from the trophic level beneath it, so with each step up the food chain, concentrations of toxicants become magnified.

Front 27

Epidemiological Studies

Back 27

Large scale comparisons among groups of people, usually contrasting a group known to have been exposed to some hazard and a group that has not. Epidemiologists track the fate of all people in the study for a long period of time (often years or decades) and measure the rate at which deaths, cancers, or other health problems occur in each group.

Front 28

Dose-response Analysis

Back 28

The standard method of testing with lab animals in toxicology.

Front 29

Dose

Back 29

The amount of substance the test animal receives.

Front 30

Response

Back 30

Is the type or magnitude of negative effects the animal exhibits as a result. The result is generally quantified by measuring the proportion of animals exhibiting negative effects.

Front 31

Synergistic Effects

Back 31

Interactive impacts that are greater than the simple sum of their constituent effects.

Front 32

Risk Assessment

Back 32

The quantitative measurement of risk and the comparison of risks involved in different activities or substances together.

Front 33

Risk Management

Back 33

Consists of decisions and strategies to minimize risk. In most nations, risk management is handled largely by federal agencies.

Front 34

The Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA)

Back 34

Directs the EPA to monitor the roughly 83,000 industrial chemicals manufactured in or imported into the United States, ranging from PCBs to lead to bisphenol A. The act gives the agency power to regulate these substances and ban them if they are found to pose excessive risk.

Front 35

What does REACH stand for?

Back 35

Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and restriction of CHemicals.

Front 36

What is the purpose of REACH?

Back 36

They largely shift the burden of proof for testing chemical safety from national governments to industry and requires that chemical substances produced or imported in amounts of over 1 metric ton per year be registered with a new European Chemicals Agency.