Chapter 20

What pollutant is caused by poor sanitation and lead to gastrointestinal infection?

bacteria in food

Which pollutants are added to the air by burning fuels for vehicles?

carbon monoxide and particulates

What environmental change may increase the areas where malaria occurs?

climate change

Black lung disease is caused by ____________________.

coal dust

What is most likely to lead to the spread of parasites?

contaminated soil

What environmental change may result in more pathogens making a cross species transfer to humans?

destroying habitats

The hantavirus and Ebola virus are examples of ____________________ viruses.

emerging

Arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury are examples of pollutants called ____________________.

heavy metals

What is most of the pollution in the environment a result of?

inadequate waste disposal

What pathogens have made a cross species transfer to humans?

influenza, hantavirus and west nile virus

The chemical found in old paint and gasoline that can cause brain damage and learning problems is ____________________.

lead

What are two diseases caused directly by pollution?

lead poisoning and lung cancer

What is true about pollutants from waste disposal?

many communities release raw sewage into rivers

In order for people to get malaria, they must be bitten by an infected ____________________.

mosquitos

What are dust storms, volcanoes, and wildfires all examples of?

natural causes of pollution

Pollutants that cause health problems because they become trapped in the tiny air sacs in the lungs (causing irritation) are called _________________________.

particulate matter

What pollutant is found in vehicle exhaust, burning waste, fires, and tobacco smoke?

particulate matter

Most of the organophosphate poisoning occurs in what people?

people applying chemicals to crops

DDT is known as a(n) ____________________ pesticide because it breaks down slowly in the environment.

persistent

Pollutants that are used in agriculture and landscaping and might cause nerve damage, birth defects, and cancer in humans are ____________________.

pesticides

In the case of humans, risk is the ____________________ of suffering a disease, injury, or death.

probability

What do our actions cause some disease causing bacteria to become?

resistant to antibiotics

The damage to health that results from exposure to a given dose is called ____________________.

response

What is a risk assessment?

the estimate of the probability of a negative effect caused by a substance

What is toxicology a study of?

the harmful effects of substances on organisms

What do scientists use epidemiology for?

the origin of disease, the spread of disease, and disease prevention

Exposure to any amount of a chemical that is less than the ____________________ dose has no adverse effect on health.

threshold

Construction of irrigation canals and dams has encouraged the spread of infectious diseases by increasing the habitat for ____________________ such as mosquitoes and snails.

vectors

A major health problem caused by the burning of fuels comes from what sources?

vehicles power plants and home furnaces

HIV is considered an emerging virus because it?

was previously unknown

Much of the pollution in our environment is a byproduct of inadequate _________________________.

waste disposal

Most infectious disease is transmitted through what means?

water

Pollution can cause illness indirectly because many pathogens breed in or are spread by polluted ____________________.

water

How is the environment an important factor in the spread of cholera and dysentery?

water provides the habitat for them to breed

When do naturally occurring pollutants become hazardous to your health?

when they are above natural levels