ES100- Exam 2- Chapter 8

PFC's are persistent chemicals, so they are...

In the blood of nearly everyone in the United States; found in remote and even pristine places in the world

What is true about global health trends?

Infectious diseases such as diarrhea are declining globally; Chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease

Routes of exposure: Pesticide residue on food

Ingestion

Routes of exposure: toulene and formaldehyde from cigarette smoke

Inhalation

Routes of exposure: Certain pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and drugs

Injection

Outbreaks of health problems that have a psychological rather than physical basis are referred to as...

Psychogenic conditions

Bisphenol A (BPA)

Used to produce plastic coated items, such as linings of cans and bottles, tooth-protecting sealants, and water pipes

You and your parents most likely disagree about tobacco and alcohol use... what is the reason for this disagreement?

We perceive risks differently, depending on the control, interests or context

Bio-magnification

When the toxic burden of organisms at a lower trophic level is accumulated and concentrated by a predator in a higher trophic level.

The reason that the incidence of malaria is on the rise again is because...

a protozoan parasite became resistant to many drugs used to treat the disease

Perfluorocarbons

aka: PFCs; have been used for coatings, insulation, computer parts, cosmetics, and propellents

White-nose syndrome is...

an ecological disease; caused by fungus that thrives in cool, moist caves where bats like to hibernate; possibly spread by humans from cave to cave on their shoes and clothing

Conservation medicine

an emerging type of medicine that seeks to understand how environmental changes threaten our health and the environment itself

Disease

any abnormal change in body conditions that impairs normal functions

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

are dangerous because they don't degrade quickly and cells readily take them up

Regulators struggle with how to set acceptable pollution levels based on the dose-response curve, because...

costs may increase significantly to protect the very small number of highly sensitive individuals at the extreme end of the curve

Debates in establishing environmental health policy include whether to ....

demand protection from every potentially harmful contaminant or except some exposure as our bodies can repair some damage; establish acceptable toxin levels at the highest amount that does not cause measurable effects or as low as technically feasible

The heaviest burden of illness is borne by...

developing countries where people cannot afford adequate health care or to live in a healthy environment

Ecological disease refer to infectious diseases that strictly affect wildlife or cause damage to habitats (T/F)

come from emergent diseases! can be both from wildlife or domestic animals as well

Antigens

foreign materials that stimulate the production of specific antibodies

Morbidity refers to __________, while mortality refers to __________.

illness; death

Disease refers to...

impairment of body functions

Chronic effect

Developing lung cancer after exposure to radiation

Acute effect

Developing radiation sickness after exposure to radiation

DDT is a well-known case of bio-magnification in the environment. Rank the stages of bio-magnification in DDT in order earlier to higher

(1) DDT is released into the water from agricultural runoff (2) Zooplankton consume DDT (3) Small fish eat zooplankton (4) Big fish eat small fish (5) Ospreys eat larger fish

Risk of Car Accidents or firearm assaults

1 in 112 to 1 in 358

Risk of wasp, dog bite, bee sting, etc.

1 in 55,764 to 1 in 144,899

Risk of Heart Disease and Cancer

1 in 7

Neurotoxins

A metabolic poison that specifically attacks nerve cells

Show how, as a consequence from natural selection, the use of a new insecticide to control mosquito vectors can cause diseases like malaria to become more prevalent as mosquitos develop pesticide resistance.

A new insecticide is discovered to control disease vectors such as mosquitos --> The insecticide is used indiscriminately to control disease vectors such as mosquitos --> The insecticide acts as a selective agent and only mosquitos with the insecticide resistance survive and reproduce, thus spreading their genes --> After repeated exposure to the insecticide, the mosquitos are insensitive to the pesticide and their populations flare up

Routes of exposure: endocrine disrupters such as BHA in facial moisturizers

Absorption

How do factors related to individual influence of how he or she responds to toxins in the environment?

Age affects susceptibility to toxins, as chemicals that might be relatively harmless to adults may be dangerous to young children; Immunological status affects susceptibility to toxins. A healthy individual may be insensitive to doses of toxins dangerous to someone who is ill.

Sick Building Syndrome

Allergies, headache, and chronic fatigue due to poorly ventilated indoor spaces contaminated by toxins such as formaldehyde released from carpeting, furniture, and other materials is referred to as...

What is an example of synergism?

Asbestos exposure and smoking each increase lung cancer rates 20-fold; Asbestos workers who smoke each have a risk of cancer 400-fold.

What factors make emergent disease a special problem?

At times we lack the medicines with which to treat them, as some emergent diseases are caused by drug-resistant strains of a pathogen

What accurately explains what is meant by the body burden in the field of environmental toxicology?

Body burden refers to the accumulation of persistent toxins in our bodies that we acquire through daily contact with the environment

Highest cause of death to lowest in United States

Cancer --> Car accident --> Drowning --> Dog bites

Example of Trauma

Car accidents

Nearly all substances are toxic depending on the amount, delivery rate, and method. This idea is summarized in the statement "_______________ makes the poison"

DOSE

Liver

Detoxification

What do policy makers consider when creating environmental policy?

Differences between acute and chronic exposures; combined effects of exposure to multiple toxins; different sensitivities among those exposed to the toxins

What do policy makers consider the most important in setting an effective environmental healthy policy?

Differences between acute and chronic exposures; different sensitivities among those exposed to the toxins; combined effects of exposure to multiple toxins

How do endocrine disruptors effect us?

Disrupt growth and development; cause feminization of males; may cause reproductive disfunction in females

The 2014 epidemic of __________ in Western Africa infected approximately 20,000 people and killed 8,000.

Ebola

Declines in child mortality are largely a result of ...

Educating women, improved sanitation, better nutrition

The estrogen-like compound that acts as a substitute hormone and disrupts gene expression is...

Endocrine disruptor

Kidneys

Excreting water-soluble salts and other substances

Lungs

Exhaling excess carbon dioxide

Chronic exposure

Exposure to background radiation, like from radon gas

Acute exposure

Exposure to radiation during an x-ray for a broken foot

All species have approximately the same reaction to a specific compound (T/F)

FALSE

What's true about how people apply probability in determining how much risk to accept and when to avoid exposure to certain risks?

For most people, a 1 in 100,000 chance of dying from some risk to accept and when to avoid exposure to certain risks; Most people will tolerate a higher probability of the occurrence of an event if the harm of the event is low

What is true about the potency (strength) of toxic substances?

For some toxic substances, a millionth of a gram can be lethal.

Why is HIV/AIDS a particular worry for public health officials?

HIV/AIDS is currently the emergent disease with the highest death toll of 37 million people; In sub-Saharan Africa; AIDS infection shortens life expectancy by about 30 years resulting in substantial reduction of GDP for the region

What does solubility mean?

It is the ability of a substance to dissolve in a solvent

What is MSRA and what are our concerns about it?

It is the methicillan-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria; it is easily spread through skin contact; it is common in hospitals and nursing homes

Example of Toxins

Lead

What persistent pollutant was formally used in paint and gasoline and is linked to numerous health concerns, such as cancer, reproductive problems, mental issues, and deformities?

Lead

What best describes the effects of low doses of toxins?

Low doses of toxins can have variable effects and can cause either more or less serious health problems than high doses

The Zika virus is commonly transmitted by...

MOSQUITOS

A protozoan that infects cats and other land mammals is causing deaths in...

Marine mammals!

Besides drug-resistant parasites, malaria is also on the rise because...

Mosquitos have developed resistance to insecticides

What characterizes Chytridiomycosis?

Most amphibians are susceptible to this fungus, which is causing environmental changes

Example of Pollution

Noise

The Black Death, the 1918 influenza, and the H1N1 virus were all _________, because widespread and worldwide infections.

Pandemic

Staphylococcus bacteria is very common, yet a new strain that we call MSRA is now resistant to ___________ and its related antibiotics. It is spread very easily through skin contact.

Penicillin

Why, despite probability calculations, people perceive driving as less of a risky and are more accepting of associated risks?

People tolerate high risks in activities of their choosing, as they have an exaggerated view of their abilities to control fate; People tolerate familiar risks, despite the high probability of harm, because they often downplay the risk associated with familiar activities

Toxic substances

Poisons that are produced naturally

What can be concluded based on the policy decisions addressing hazardous and toxic nutrients based on the US Environmental Protection Agency's assessment of relative risks to human welfare?

Policy decisions about toxins must address how much such materials affect not just humans but also organisms that define and maintain our environment; Our focus on reducing pollution to protect human health has neglected risks to natural ecological systems that may ultimately be of greater importance

What explains why tissue repair mechanisms may make those tissues more susceptible to cancer?

Rapid cell reproduction replaces damaged cells in tissues, but the more cells reproduce, the greater the chances are that they become more cancerous

What does Dr. Jeffery Sachs see as the connection between disease burden and social stability?

Reducing the disease burden could help reduce population growth, for when people believe their children will survive, they have fewer children; improved health in poorer countries may help prevent the spread of emergent diseases in a globally interconnected world

In 1973, the FDA required that cancer-causing compounds must not be present in meat at concentrations that would cause a cancer risk greater than 1 in a million lifetimes. This decision of the FDA was based on...

Risk Assessment

Microbes acquire resistance to antibiotics through different processes that include random mutations and ______________ reproduction.

Sexual ;)

The World Health Organization defines health as _____________ well-being.

Social, physical, mental

Most people in industrialized nations have PFC residues in their blood. (T/F)

TRUE

The connection between emergent and ecological diseases is that both are increasing as environmental change stresses biological systems and disrupts ecological relationships. (T/F)

TRUE-- climate change and invasive species disrupts ecological balances and facilitate the spread of disease pathogens in new habitats.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a pattern of mental and physical defects that can develop in a fetus when a mother drinks alcohol during her pregnancy. This is what kind of toxin?

Teratogen; these affect embryonic growth and development

Why are animals still used to test the toxicity of substances?

Tests on living animals are more reliable than other tests

What is true about the affects of the exposure of carcinogens?

The US EPA estimates that 200 million Americans live in areas where cancer risk of environmental carcinogens is ten times higher than normal; exposure to carcinogens can lead to invasive, out-of-control cell growth that results in malignant tumors (aka cancer)

The science involved in determining whether endocrine disrupters are harmful shows how establishing public policy is difficult. What correctly identifies the reasons why debate currently surrounds regulating endocrine disruptors?

The chemical industry disputes the need for testing, and industry funded scientists point to contradictions and uncertainties in published studies; data on which chemicals are endocrine disrupters are not definitive

What is true about toxic substances?

The dose makes the poison; Our increasing ability to detect traces of a substance sometimes means that thought we can detect it, the level may be too low to cause harm

Bio-accumulation

The selective absorption and storage of a great variety of molecules inside cells and tissues at levels that are higher than in the environment

Hazardous substance

These substances are dangerous because they are flammable, explosive, acidic, caustic, irritants, or sensitizers. Many of these materials can be rendered relatively innocuous by dilution, neutralization, or other physical treatment.

Toxic substance

These substances damage or kill living organisms because they react with cellular components to disrupt metabolic functions. They are often harmful even in extremely dilute concentrations.

Water-soluble types

These substances move widely in the environment and also have ready access to body cells as their solvents are ubiquitous.

Oil-soluble types

These substances need a carrier molecule to move through the environment, but once they are inside cells they likely accumulate and persist

What describes the relationship between toxicity and potency?

Though categorizing toxins based on potency is useful, it is complicated by differences in individual and species reactions to particular chemicals.

Wind turbine syndrome is considered a psychogenic condition because people who are opposed to wind turbines often claim that noise and shadow flicker caused by moving turbines make them sick even though there is no medical evidence for cause and effect. (T/F)

True-- Psychogenic conditions refer to outbreaks of health problems (such as wind turbine syndrome) that have a psychological basis rather than a physical basis

What describes the phaseout of PFC manufacturing?

US and European countries agreed to phaseout chemicals by 2015, however, Asian regions continue to create and use them

Example of Radiation

UV Rays

Perchlorate

Used as a propellant and in rocket fuels

Atrazine

Used as an herbicide

Phthalates

Used to make cosmetics, deodorant, and soft PVC plastics

Perfluooroctanoic acid (PFOA)

Used to make nonstick, water-proof, and stain-resistant products; like Teflon, Gortex, and Scotchguard

As shown in the figure, every organism in Lake Michigan food chain has some DDT in their body tissues at concentrations higher than in the environment is called _______________, whereas the reason that gulls, who are tertiary consumers, have about 240 times the concentration of compounds when compared to the small insects sharing the same environment due to ______________.

bioaccumulation; bio-magnification

Recent evidence shows that the epigenome (genetic expression) can be important in understanding long-term effects of toxic substances because...

changes in proteins and molecules that regulate gene function can pass effects of exposure to future generations

The study of toxicology ...

draws from many disciplines, including biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, among others

Today health agencies calculate DALYs rather than mortality rates as a measure of disease burden, because...

mortality data fail to capture the impacts of non-fatal outcomes of disease and injury on human well-being; DALYs are a more complete measure, combining premature deaths and the loss of a healthy life resulting from mental illness or physical disability

What accurately describes mutagens and their effects?

mutagens are agents such as chemicals or radiation that damage DNA; though cells have repair mechanisms to restore damaged DNA, there is no safe threshold for exposure to mutagens as the repair process may be flawed; the damage to genetic material by mutagens can lead to birth defects if the exposure occurs during fetal development.

Trends in obesity related illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes are...

no longer for the wealthy, as they are now becoming common in the developing world

Risk

possibility of suffering harm or loss resulting from a given action

The reason malaria is on the rise again is because...

protozoan parasite became resistant to the many drugs used to treat the disease

In 1973, the FDA required that cancer-causing compounds must not be present in meat at concentrations that would cause a cancer risk greater than 1 in a million lifetimes. That decision by the FDA was based on...

risk assessment

Persistence of chemicals can be a concern for health because such...

stable chemicals are resistant to degradation and can cause problems long after application and far from the sites where they were originally used

The idea of epigenome is that chemical compounds that are added to genes can regulate their activity by...

stimulating or inhibiting gene expression; altering gene expressions in ways that can be passed on to offspring

Allergens

substances that affect us by triggering a response in our immune systems

Adopting the precautionary principle in regulating environmental toxins...

suggests a "better safe than sorry" approach of social responsibility to protect the public from harm in the face of scientific uncertainty; requires manufacturers to show that a substance is not dangerous before it is introduced in the marketplace

Of the factors that determine whether or not a particular chemical will prove dangerous, which of the following are based on the nature of the chemical agent itself?

the chemical agent is water-soluble; the chemical agent is NOT biodegradable and thus is persistent in the environment

What are major concerns of environmental toxicity?

the fate of pollutants at the water/air interface and sediment/water interface in aquatic ecosystems; the interactions and transformations of natural chemicals in the biosphere

When a dose-response curve for a particular toxin shows a threshold for a response, it generally suggests...

the presence of a defense mechanism that prevents the toxin from reaching its target or repairs the damage that the toxin causes; that some minimal dose is necessary before any effect can be observed

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are a concern because...

they are stable; they do not degrade easily and have become extremely widespread in the environment