ENV 11 CHAPTER 17 QUIZLET

Chemical Hazards

A chemical linked to immediate or delayed health effects after exposure.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

A chemical that is resistant to breakdown through chemical reactions, biological processes, or exposure to sunlight. DDT resists breakdown through chemical reactions, biological processes, or exposure to sunlight. So, although the use of these and many other [answer] has been curtailed or banned in the United States and other countries, they remain in the environment because they persist in the soil and can be passed up the food chain as organisms consume one another.

Diarrheal diseases

A disease caused by pathogens that affect the digestive tract. It is spread through water. These diseases affect the digestive tract and are the second leading cause of death for children under 5 years of age, mainly in developing countries. The pathogens that cause these diseases are typically transmitted through water used for drinking, cooking, or cleaning that is contaminated with human or animal feces. Diarrhea can be fatal if not treated because it causes the loss of fluids, salts, and other nutrients essential to survival.

Radiation

A form of energy that travels through space and penetrates various materials. The nuclear disaster in Japan triggered by the tsunami exposed the population to (?)—a different type of physical hazard that inflicts damage at the cellular level. It is a form of energy that travels through space and penetrates various materials. It is all around us, and everyday examples include the light we see and the microwaves we use to heat up food.

Storm surge

An abnormal rise of marines waters generated by a storm, over and above the predicted tide. In coastal areas, [answer] can also cause flooding as high winds push extremely large waves of seawater ashore. Hurricanes can bring both [answer] and intense precipitation to an area at the same time. This is what happened after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Houston, Texas, in 2017.

Fat-soluble toxins

DDT and mercury accumulate in the body fat of animals and are released within the body over time as the fat is burned to make energy. But if an organism absorbs the toxin at a faster rate than they metabolize or excrete it, the toxin will build up in the tissues of that organism. When these fats are eaten by other animals, they accumulate these toxins too. Animals higher up on the food chain absorb the toxins eaten by animals lower in the food chain.

Executive Order 12898

Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations by Bill Clinton. - In 1994, President Clinton issued (?), which directed federal agencies to identify and address "disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects" on low-income and minority populations. Although this order does not establish new rights or avenues of redress for affected communities, it was the first act to consider impacts related to environmental justice concerns.

R.E.A.C.H

Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals. This is widely regarded as the world's most stringent law governing potential toxins. It requires all companies manufacturing or importing chemicals in Europe to register each substance, which includes providing a chemical safety assessment.

Water soluble substances

Substances such as cyanide dissolve easily in water and move quickly into the bloodstream when ingested. There they can have an immediate effect before being filtered through the kidneys and excreted in urine or other fluids.

Environmental justice

The principle that no community should bear more environmental burdens or enjoy fewer environmental benefits than others; the EPA defines it as the "fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies."

Epidemiology

The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states and events in specific populations; the who, what, when, and where of diseases in populations, or per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the study of what causes diseases, how they occur and are distributed, and the overall health of specific populations. It is the first field of environmental health studies. In the mid-1800s, cholera ran rampant through London. Cholera is a diarrheal disease that can be fatal if untreated, and in the 19th century, several pandemics (global outbreaks) of the disease killed more than 30 million people. John Snow's discovery initiated a movement for sanitation and clean drinking water that helped reduce the environmental hazard. This launched the field of [answer].

Synergistic toxin

The toxic impact is greater than the sum of the effects of interacting chemicals. A common example of the [answer] effect occurs when the cleaning products ammonia and bleach are combined. The result is chlorine gas, a toxin that is far more deadly than either ammonia or bleach alone.

Additive toxin

The toxic impact is the sum of the effects of interacting chemicals.

Herd immunity

When members of a population are unlikely to become infected because most of the population is inoculated against the pathogen, or when a large enough proportion of the population is immune to a pathogen, it indirectly protects people who are not immune. When herd immunity breaks down, a disease that was once largely suppressed can begin to spread among the non-immunized population. No one is immunized --> contagious disease spreads through the population. Most of the population is immunized --> spread of contagious disease is contained.

Landslides

When rock or other debris detaches from a slope and slides downhill. In 2017 a landslide in Freetown, Sierra Leone, killed more than 1,000 people and destroyed 2,000 homes in its path. Although extreme rains were the immediate cause of the slide, experts also blamed the tragedy on deforestation and the construction of substandard housing on dangerous slopes. And forest fires, such as those in California mentioned earlier, can leave slopes bare and vulnerable to slides should heavy rains occur.

Floods

When water inundates land that is normally dry, especially through rapid rainfall and snow-melt. Human land-use decisions directly influence [answer] damage. The loss of wetlands in floodplains and coastal areas eliminates buffers that can disperse the destructive energy of [answer]waters and storm surges.

Ionizing radiation

A form of radiation that removes electrons from an atom. and when it penetrates and reacts with our bodies, it can damage cells. A large, short-lived dose of this radiation can cause immediate, widespread tissue damage, leading to acute radiation sickness. Chronic, long-term exposure to smaller doses of this type of radiation can lead to cancer. Most of us receive a dose of this type of radiation every year. Natural sources such as cosmic rays and radioactive elements in Earth's crust account for more than 50% of the annual dose people typically receive. Medical use of ionizing radiation, including X-rays and radiation therapy for cancer, is the largest nonnatural source. But other human-made sources of radiation exposure are far more detrimental. Creating and using nuclear power is one example. The two most serious accidents at nuclear power plants, rated at level 7 (the most dangerous type of event on the International Nuclear Event Scale), occurred at Chernobyl, Ukraine, and Fukushima, Japan. More than two dozen first respondents died of acute radiation sickness at Chernobyl.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

A gas released through the evaporation or incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and other organic chemicals. Benzene, formaldehyde, and toluene are examples of toxins known as (?), which are used in products such as paints, woods preservatives, and nail polish. These compounds are easily inhaled and absorbed through the lungs.

Geologic hazards

A large scale event that causes tremendous amount of damage. Landslides, for example, occur when rock or other debris detaches from a slope and slides downhill. Ultimately, landslides are caused by sloping areas becoming unstable, and human activities such as deforestation and mining can destabilize slopes.

Climate change

A long-term change in the earth's climate, especially a change due to an increase in the average atmospheric temperature and precipitation, which is attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels. This can worsen the effects of biological and physical hazards, particularly extreme weather events.

Pathogens

A microorganism that causes illness or infection when it takes up residence in our bodies. Infectious diseases account for about one in four human deaths worldwide. In environmental health terms, these are considered biological hazards.

Radon

A naturally occurring radioactive gas found in rock, soil, and groundwater. This gas is odorless and colorless, and it can seep into the basements of buildings. This gas also caused cancer in Navajo uranium miners, and in the general population, the US Surgeon General has found that radon is second only to smoking as a cause of lung cancer. We can avoid the exposure to this radioactive gas by installing systems that vent the gas to the outside so that it does not get trapped and accumulate in indoor air.

Heat waves

A period of extremely and unusually high temperatures that lasts days or weeks and can be deadly. This happened in Europe in 2003 killed more than 25,000 people across 16 countries as the continent experienced its hottest summer since 1540, with temperatures in some areas above 104°F (40°C) for 8 consecutive days. An estimated 30% of the world's population is currently exposed to 20 days or more of extreme heat events each year. These often go hand in hand with water shortages or droughts.

Toxin

A poisonous substance that can cause illness or death. More than 2,400 years ago, the Greek philosopher Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine, recognized the poisonous properties of metals such as lead and sulfur. He understood that interacting with these materials, which we have come to call these [answer], could make people sick. From this start, we now have the field of environmental health. These chemical hazards can be naturally occurring, like the elements lead and arsenic, or can be compounds that have been synthesized by humans. [Answer] have a variety of harmful effects on the body, depending on the substance and the exposure. These range from tissue and organ damage to disruption of particular biological functions. The dose of a substance affects its toxicity. [Answer] do not affect everyone in the same way. Genetics, age, sex, and overall health are other factors.

Earthquakes

A powerful geologic hazard typically caused when parts of Earth's crust shifts along faults. These can also trigger tsunamis, powerful waves that can flood coastal areas, destroying structures and unleashing additional hazards. The impact of this physical hazard is shaped not only by its strength and location but also by the way in which structures are built and the emergency response to the event.

Tsunamis

A powerful wave that can flood coastal areas. The meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant was caused by a 40-foot (?) that breached the 30-foot seawall protecting the plant, flooding the facility, and disabling emergency backup generators, ultimately leading to a loss of cooling for the nuclear reactors.

Drought

A prolonged period of low precipitation and high evaporation rates that can lead to water shortages. These occur over months or years in places affected by below-average precipitation and/or above-average evaporation due to high temperatures. For example, when large areas of Texas and Oklahoma experienced more than 100 days of temperatures exceeding 100°F in the summer of 2011, the rate of water loss from evaporation in each state was double the long-term average. Sometimes these are not just a summer phenomenon. In extreme cases, water scarcity and agricultural losses due to this created a spark of international conflict and crises. A severe [answer] affecting Syria from 2006 to 2009 caused crop failures and restrictive water policies that led to the migration of more than 1 million people from rural areas into cities.

Physical hazard

An event or phenomenon that causes harm to humans through physical damage. Wildfires are one example of a this hazard. These include disastrous events—such as tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and other extreme weather events, as well as earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and other geologic hazards. Many hazards of this type fall under the category of "natural disasters" that can cause great damage. But increasingly, humans are playing a role in these hazards, as human activities increase their likelihood and the extent of the damage inflicted on affected communities. **Much of the danger is also associated with this hazards is determined by where communities are located and how they are built. Often, the areas most vulnerable to these hazards are home to low-income and minority communities.

Respiratory infections

An infectious disease affecting the lungs and airways. It is spread through air. They are the leading cause of sickness and death worldwide. These infections spread by pathogens in an infected person's cough or sneeze that can be inhaled by those nearby or picked up through contact with a contaminated surface (such as a doorknob). While most people overcome the most common respiratory diseases—the [common cold, flu (influenza), and bronchitis]—each cause hundreds of thousands of deaths per year, mainly among the very young and very old. And all three of these common respiratory infections can lead to [pneumonia]—an inflammation of the lungs that causes their small air sacs to fill with fluid. It kills more than 1 million people each year and is the leading infectious cause of death for children. Similarly, [tuberculosis], a bacterial infection that primarily affects the lungs, also kills more than 1 million people each year.

Blood-borne pathogen

An infectious microorganism in human blood that can cause disease in humans. It is spread through person-to-person or person-to-animal contact. For example, HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system and is transmitted person-to-person by blood and certain bodily fluids through sexual contact or by sharing needles. While less familiar in developed countries, malaria is a blood-borne disease that is rampant in tropical regions, spreading by bites from female Anopheles mosquitoes. Other, less common diseases of this pathogen include the West Nile virus and the Zika virus (which are both carried by mosquitoes) and Lyme disease (which is carried by ticks). The 2014 outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people was caused by human contact with the infected raw meat of forest animals such as fruit bats, monkeys, and porcupines.

Biological Hazards

An organic substance or pathogens that poses a threat to the health of living organisms.

Toxicology

As the second field of environmental health studies, it studies the negative health effects of substances on an organism. One classic case gave rise to the phrase "mad as a hatter," popularized by the mad hatter character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. At the time, many hatmakers in Europe and the United States suffered from erethism: a neurologic disorder with symptoms including tremors, delirium, personality changes, and memory loss. During the 1860s, scientists in both France and the United States linked the condition to a mercury compound used to treat animal fur in the hat-making process. The does of a substance affect its toxicity. Toxins do not affect everyone the same way, for example, lighter people feel the effects of drinking after a few drinks, compared to heavier people. Genetics is another way the effects of a toxin may vary by individual.

Environmental health

Assessment and control of the biological, chemical, and physical factors that affect our well-being. The field of [answer], one the World Health Organization defines as the assessment and control of the biological, chemical, and physical factors that affect our well-being. It has three main branches, epidemiology, toxicology, and environmental justice, best illustrated by some famous examples.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation

Invisible rays that are part of the energy that comes from the sun. This radiation that reaches Earth's surface is made up of two types of rays, called UVA and UVB. While emergencies such as nuclear power plant meltdowns highlight the deadliness of ionizing radiation, far more fatalities are caused by this radiation. This radiation is composed of invisible rays that come from the Sun. Two forms of it, known as UVA and UVB, reach the Earth's surface and are the leading causes of skin cancer. The amount of exposure a person receives is dependent on many factors, such as the time of day, the time of year, and location on the planet (residing closer to the equator where the Sun's rays are more direct and intense), season, time of day, and having a fair complexion. The thinning of Earth's ozone layer due to human-made ozone-depleting substances has also made humans more vulnerable to this radiation.

Persistence

The extent to which chemical resists being broken down affects its risk to human health. The longer it takes for a chemical to degrade from its toxic form, the more available it is for exposure and accumulation.

DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)

The insecticide which was once widely used to control disease-causing mosquitoes, was later banned because of the adverse environmental effects it had on birds and other species. It resists breakdown through chemical reactions, biological processes, or exposure to sunlight. It is a POP.