Chapter 17
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), children are ____ times more susceptible to the effects of toxic chemicals compared to adults.
10
Most people accept a threshold of a one in ____ chance of dying or suffering serious harm from exposure to an environmental hazard for changing their behavior.
100,000
Of the 85,000 registered synthetic chemicals in commercial use, only ____% have been adequately tested to determine whether they are carcinogens, teratogens, or mutagen
2
In a study, people who smoked one to two packs of cigarettes daily had a ____ higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia.
44%
Spouses of smokers have a ___ higher risk of heart attack and lung cancer than spouses of non-smokers.
72%
Which term refers to the immediate or rapid harmful reaction to exposure to a chemical, ranging from dizziness to death?
Acute effect
Hayat Sindi is a scientist who co-founded a nonprofit marketing company called ____ to bring low-cost health monitoring to remote, poor areas of the world.
Diagnostics for All
Which hazard is considered a natural hazard?
Earthquakes
Teratogens are chemicals that cause cancer.
False
There is unanimous agreement among scientists about how far we should go in applying the precautionary principle.
False
In a tropical forest, how would deforestation impact the incidence of malaria?
In would increase because of an increase in pooled water for breeding.
Which viral disease is the biggest killer?
Influenza
What term refers to a substance's resistance to breakdown?
Persistence
Which chemicals make plastics more flexible and are found in a variety of products, such as detergents, cosmetics, body lotions, soft vinyl toys, and shower curtains?
Phthalates
A nontransmissible disease is caused by something other than a living organism.
True
Hormone mimics disrupt the endocrine system by attaching to receptor molecules
True
Numerous studies suggest that humans and other male animals may become feminized by exposure to endocrine disruptors.
True
One factor limiting the usefulness of epidemiological studies is the fact that, in many cases, too few people have been exposed to high enough levels of a toxic agent to detect statistically significant differences.
True
People with AIDS are more vulnerable to tuberculosis.
True
The greatest risk from exposure to low levels of methylmercury is brain damage in fetuses and young children.
True
Which disease is transmissible?
Tuberculosis
A person suffering from liver damage after a lifetime of alcohol abuse is experiencing ____.
a chronic effect
Carcinogens cause or promote ____.
cancer
Malaria is spread by ____.
certain types of mosquitoes
Poverty is an example of a ___.
cultural hazard
The most dangerous activity that individuals might do on a regular basis is to ____.
drive or ride in cars
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 1970 and 2015, the percentages of all deaths worldwide resulting from infectious diseases ____.
dropped from 35% to 16%
A complex network of glands that release tiny amounts of hormones into the bloodstream of humans and other vertebrates is collectively known as the ____ system.
endocrine
The ____ system protects the body against disease and harmful substances.
immune
For a project in a laboratory class you are taking, you are directed to design and implement your own experiment. Your partner suggests using mice to find the LD50 of a common household chemical. Your professor suggests that you reconsider this approach because ___.
it would require killing half of the mice
About half of the people with active tuberculosis will die from destruction of their ____.
lung tissue
A global outbreak of an infectious disease is called a(n) ____.
pandemic
A chemical that is fat soluble, persistent in the environment, and can enter the food chain would likely be found at the highest concentration in ___.
predatory fish
The probability of suffering harm from a hazard that can cause injury, disease, death, economic loss, or damage is referred to as ____.
risk
The bacteria that cause Lyme disease are transmitted to humans directly by ____.
ticks
