Lecture #1

Question 1

Pollution myth #1: pollution isn’t a problem

Answer 1

• huge amounts of pollution
• hundreds of chemicals in your body
• massive oil spills
• energy and agriculture are industries that pollute the most
  *

Question 2

What compound is this?

Answer 2

Atrazine

one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, we use 76 million pounds per year in the US

Question 3

Pollution myth #2: environmental health and human health are separable

Answer 3

• chemicals put into the environment often find their way into our food sources
• climate change will affect people too, more severe storms, coastal flooding, etc…
• 2 of the top 4 causes of death in the US are linked to environmental pollution, pollution is the leading cause of premature death
• negative health impacts that don’t cause death as well

Question 4

Pollution myth #3: pollution research is applied so it is not a hard science

Answer 4

• 4% of genes in a cell deal with toxic chemicals and other stresses

Question 5

Pollution myth #4: actual cost of pollution is cheap while regulation is expensive

Answer 5

• benefits of preventing pollution greatly outweigh allowing it and trying to clean it up later
• US Toxics policy is like a game of Whack-a-Mole, dealing with issues as they arise instead of preventing them

Question 6

Why do we need to know about toxicology/pollution?

Answer 6

• we make daily decisions based of perception of toxicity/environmental health (EX: organic food, BPA free water bottles)
• it assists in understanding the organization of biological systems
• social responsibility