Chapter 17: Environmental Hazards & Human Health

Which step of risk analysis involves identifying hazards and evaluating their associated risks?

risk assessment

Which step of risk analysis ranks risks?

comparative risk analysis

Which step of risk analysis determines options and makes decisions about reducing risks?

risk management

Which step of risk analysis informs decision makers and public about risks?

risk communication

What is defined as the possibility of suffering harm from a hazard causing injury, economic loss, or environmental damage?

risk

What is risk expressed in terms of?

probability

Name the FOUR major types of hazards:

cultural, chemical, physical, biological

Examples of cultural hazards:

poor diet, drugs, driving, assault

Examples of chemical hazards:

harmful chemicals in the air, water, soil, or food

Examples of physical hazards:

fire, weather, radiation, earthquakes, volcanoes, ionizing radiation

Examples of biological hazards:

pathogens, allergens, animals

What type of chemical causes temporary/permanent harm or death?

toxic chemical

Name the FOUR characteristics of hazardous chemicals:

flammable, skin or lung damage, interferes with O2 uptake, induces allergic reactions

What is an increase in the concentration of a chemical in specific organs/tissues of an organism over time?

bioaccumulation

What is an increase in the concentration of chemicals in organisms at higher trophic levels?

biomagnification

What were the neurological effects in Japan due to mercury poisoning from wastewater in seafood called?

Minamata Disease

What is the amount of chemical received in a dose killing 50% of subjects?

median lethal dose / LD50

What is a chemical with 50 mg or less of LD50?

poison

What describes the dose below no foreseeable toxic effects?

threshold level of toxicity

Which biological hazard is NOT caused by living things and does not spread?

nontransmissible disease

Which biological hazard is caused by living things and can spread through pathogens?

transmissible disease

Examples of nontransmissible diseases:

diabetes, bronchitis, malnutrition, mesothelioma

Examples of transmissible diseases:

tuberculosis, HIV, West Nile, cholera, malaria, dysentery, SARS, MERS, COVID

What is the deadliest infectious disease?

pneumonia / flu

What pathogen spreads through mosquitoes and causes birth defects, identified in Africa in 1947 and spreading due to increasing global temperatures?

Zika virus

What pathogen emerged in West Africa and killed 5,000 in an outbreak?

Ebola

What pathogen came from China and caused a worldwide pandemic in 2020?

Coronavirus

What is the leading cause of death in the US?

heart disease

Which change involves chronic diseases having higher mortality than childhood infectious diseases?

epidemiological transition

Which phase of epidemiological transition involves VERY high death rates?

Phase 1

Which phase of epidemiological transition involves medical advances causing lower death rates?

Phase 2

Which phase of epidemiological transition involves leveling off the death rate and most mortality due to nontransmissible diseases?

Phase 3

Which phase of epidemiological transition involves a level death rate and growing average life span with medical advances?

Phase 4

Which phase of epidemiological transition involves higher death rate because of urbanization + antibiotic overuse causing infectious diseases?

Phase 5

Which phase of epidemiological transition are we currently in?

Phase 5