10. War flashbacks to public health (Persistent Organic Pollutants)

persistent organic pollutant

__________________: man made/synthetic chemicals developed in the post WWII industrial boom.

anthropogenic, persist in environment, bioaccumulative, toxic, dose estimated through sampling, travel long distances

What are the characteristics of POPs? (first 3 most important)

DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)

_______: organochloride insecticide developed during WWII that was extremely effective and safer than earlier insecticides

DDT lasts a long time (22 days to 30 years) and accumulates and magnifies in the environment

What are the concerns about DDT raised by Rachel Carson's Silent spring?

neurotoxic, endocrine disruption, egg shell thinning, carcinogen

What specific toxicities does DDT have?

2001 stockholm convention

Which convention banned DDT in the US and most developed countries?

cool

Before the last exam I would have guessed these wouldn't be testable, but now... maybe just read them

Cool?

true/false: you don't need to memorize them, but do know that the banned chemicals for POP concerns include many pesticides, and many more chemicals have been added since the original dozen from the Stockholm treaty.

animal and human exposure can lead to disaster

So, why do we care about POPs?

hallogenated, halogen

persistent ________ pollutants include organic chemicals with ______ atoms like chlorine, fluorine or bromine

chlorine, fluorine, bromine

What were those three halogen atoms again?

industrial products, unintentional byproducts, natural locations

What are some sources of hallogenated pollutants?

polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs)/dioxisn

_________________: unwanted biproducts of burning organic materials or in organic synthesis

polyhalogenated

Dioxins are a _________________ organic compound

dibenzo-1,4-dioxin

Every PCDD molecule has a ________ skeletal structure

1,4-dioxin, 75

PCDDs have ________ as the central ring and include ________ congeners

TCDD, (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin)

What is the most potent PCDD?

aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)

TCDD will bind to a _____________________________

herbicides, paper production, auto exhaust, waste management, PCB production

TCDD is an environmental contaminant produced as a biproduct of manufacturing. What specific type of manufacturing?

tissues

TCDD will accumulate in and persist in ________

transcription, xenobiotic chemicals, cytochrome p450 (aryl hydrocarbons

Aryl hydrocarbon receptors are a _________ factor originally thought to function as a sensor of ________ and ____________

endogenous indole derivatives, kynurenine

AhR is activated (or deactivated) by the number of ____________________; specifically ______________

regulate metabolism enzymes, regulate immunity, stem cell maintenance, cellular differentiation

What are the normal functions of AhRs

cytoplasm, dissociate, nucleus, transcription

AhR hangs out in the _______, typically as an inactive form bound to several co-chaperones.

When it binds to TCDD those chaperones _________

Without chaperones telling it where to go, the AhR skips off into the ________ and combines with ARNT which normally directs _____________ in the genome.

gene transcription

Ultimately, when AhR binds with TCDD, it goes to the nucleus and screws up the normal function of ARNT (AhR nuclear transcriptor) which f*cks up ____________________.

AHR

________: TCDD toxicity from abnormal transcription

dioxins

The Sevesto Italy Disaster was a chemical plant accident where an increase of exhaust fumes rapidly released a crap ton of chemical fumes onto a town killing livestock, hospitalizing children, and contaminating plant food supplies.

What type of POP was involved with this disaster?

skin lesions, skin inflammation, chloracne

What were the main lesions that residents of Seveso Italy were hospitalized with after that reactor vomited a bunch of Dioxins on their town?

chloracne, peripheral neuropathy, liver enzyme induction

what are the acute signs of dioxin toxicity?

chloracne, increased cardiovascular/respiratory system mortality, increased diabetes, endocrine disrupting evens, immunotoxicity, cancer

What are the chronic signs of dioxin toxicity? (think population wise)

humans

what species is most resistant to TCDD?

agent orange

___________: an herbicide used in the vietnam war as a defoliant that was contaminated with TCDD

cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias, polydactyly spina bifida

What specific effects did agent orange have on the vietnamese populations? More specifically on the children born

miscarriages, birth defects

What issues did veterns have from agent orange after returning home?

poisoned by the Russian government with TCDD (duh)

Lookit this handsome lad.

What happened to Viktor Yushchenko's face?

Still dioxins, specifically TTCD

In Times Beach, Missouri, contaminated oil was sprayed onto the ground to reduce dust in horse arenas I guess?

this killed 60 ish horses, and a bunch of dogs/cats/birds/rodents etc.... oh and they sprayed the roads for dust control also and the entire town had to be relocated.

What was the oil contaminated with?

polychlorinated biphenyls/PCBs

_____________: manufactured for use in coolants and electrical devices such as transformers, banned in 1979

polybrominated biphenyls/PBBs

_________: maufactured for use in flame retardants and discontinued in 1976

true

true/false: often times the toxicity is identified before the mechanism of action

AhR, lower

polyhalogenated biphenyls are similar to TCDD in that they are both activators of ________ and bioaccumulate in the kidneys.

However, polyhalogenated biphenyls have [higher/lower] potency than TCDDs

PBB

In Michigan, a chemical formulation called FireMaster BP-6 was substituted for a feed premix called Nutrimaster.

The flame retardant was fed to 1.5 million chickens, 30K cattle, 5.9K pigs, and 1,470 sheep ate this and had to be euthanized and discarded in landfills. Along with a crap ton of animal feed and products.

What chemical were they worried about?

toxic substances control act of 1976

What legislation resulted from the previous PBB incident?

(dont kill me!! she asked about legislation in pathology or in respiratory i swear!)

decreased milk, emaciation, death, abortion (necrosis of cotyledons), hepatomegaly and hepatocellular necrosis, renal epithelial degeneration, epidermal and follicular hyperkeratosis

What are the clinical signs of PBB toxicity in cattle

yusho oil disease - acne-like dermatitis, ocular discharge, liver cancer

A 1968 incident in Japan, where rice oil was contaminated by mechanical leakage of PCB from heating coils. Humans ate it.

What happened to them?

PCB

A 1999 incident in belgium led to the destruction of 9 million chickens and 60,000 pigs after they ate chicken feed made with contaminated recycled fats.

This caused a sudden drop in egg production and an increase in chick mortality, as well as "chick edema disease"

What was the contaminant?

PCB

Ireland had a recall on pork products after the contamination of recycled bread for pig feed with what contaminant?

free range chickens, eggs

There is ongoing concern about PCB contamination in what type of production animal? And in what type of product?

false! PCBs from the monsato chemical company in Anniston were dunmped into Snow Creek and spread to several water sources. To this day Snow and Choccolocco creeks have high enough concentrations that you shouldn't fish there and the fish populations are still low

True/false: So, PCBs are popping up in like... vietnam. And Japan... surely that means they suck but it's not really an alabama problem.

killer whales

So, we've figured by now that PCBs are everywhere... What animal spreads these in the environment through oceans and ended up infecting sled dogs when blubber was used to feed them?

PFAS

____________: fluorinated substances that contain at least one fully fluorinated methyl or methane carbon atom

fluorinated, hydrophilic

PFAS, which are flluorosurfactants, have what type of head? (the molecules)

What type of tail?

PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid)

What are some examples of PFAS?

lipophobic, hydrophobic, surface tension of water

PFAS molecules are [lipophobic/lipophilic] and [hydrophobic/hydrophilic] which means that they reduce what?

nonstick cookware, aqueous film forming foam, metal plating, semiconductors, pesticides, waterproof clothing, stain resistant upholstery, food packaging, paints, photos processing, industrial surfaces, floor polish

What are some examples of things with PFAS in them?

false; it was measurable in blood but caused no health concerns yet

true/false: when PFAS was introduced in the 1940s, it was considered inert but immediately started causing side effects in workers

PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS

These three chemicals (PFHxS, PFOS, PFOA) were added to the Stockholm Convention Persistent Organic Pollutant list in 2009, 2019, and 2022... but not in that order. What order were they added in?

forever chemicals

What these three chemicals (PFHxS, PFOS, PFOA) were added to the Stockholm Convention Persistent Organic Pollutant list... What were they called by the Washington Post?

4.0 ppt

The proposed EPA maximum contaminant level for drinking water for both PFOA and PFOS is what?

developmental toxicity, endocrine disruption, liver disease, immune dysfunction, cancer, increased cholesterol levels, decreased vaccine response, increased risk of high blood pressure in pregnant women, small decreases in infant birth weight, increased risk of kidney and testicular cancer

Whole long list of PFAS Health effects staring more general and moving to the more specific

cool

I can't imagine we need to know any of these things... Lots of animals have now been exposed and contain lots of PFAS

Cool?

FDA, Seafood, beef

Which government agency is currently testing food products for PFAS after cases in New Mexico, Michigan, Main, Ohio, etc had contaminated water supplies and fertilizers...

Which two praducts are of main concern?

true

true/false: In the US, blood serum levels are decreasing as chemicals are phased out

false; SHORTER chains are less toxic

true/false: longer chains replacements of PFAS are thought to be less toxic

true

true/false: replacement compounds are starting to appear in humans, animals, and the environment (BAD)

Gen X

In the cape river basin area, industrial waste meant that about 30% of people had blood PFAS concentrations above 20ng/mL/

Of horses, 31 out of 32 tested had some kind of PFAS in their blood...

Which PFAS was this?

children, environment

Dog blood levels of Gen X mimicked levels found where?

And horse blood levels of Gen X mimicked levels found where?

liver, kidney, immune system, developmental toxicity, cancer

Whats Gen X most toxic to?

(besides boomers and millennials)

Cool

Once again, we care about this because animal and human exposures come from many areas (food/water.ecosystem cotamination) and leads to toxicity.

Cool?