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WHS APES Toxicology

Terms in this set (56)

Risk
the possibility of suffering harm from a hazard that can cause injury, disease, economic loss or environmental damage.
Probability
Mathematical statement about how likely it is that some event or effect will occur
Risk Assessment
Identifies real or potential hazard, determining probability of occurrence, and assessing the severity of its health, environmental and social impact
Risk Acceptance
a strategy in which the organization accepts the potential risk, continues to operate with no controls, and absorbs any damages that occur
Risk Management
People make decisions about how serious risk is, how much it should be reduced, how much risk reduction can be accomplished and how much money is needed
Cultural Hazards
Any hazard that occurs as a result of social norms
Chemical hazards
hazards from chemical contamination of air, water, soil, and food
Physical hazards
Hazards that occur as result of natural events
Biological Hazards
Hazards resulting from living creatures
Toxicity
Measures how harmful a substance is
Dose
The amount of potentially harmful substance that is ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin
Bioaccumulation
Increase in the concentration of a chemical in specific organs or tissues at a level higher than would normally be expected
Biomagnification
Increase in concentration of DDT, PCBs, and other slowly degradable, fat-soluble chemicals in organisms at successively higher trophic levels of a food chain or web
Synergistic Interaction
Interaction of two or more factors or processes causing the combined effect to be greater than the sum of their separate responses
Response
The type and amount of health damage that results from exposure to a certain dose of a harmful substance or form of ionizing radiation
Acute effect
Immediate or rapid response to exposure
Chronic effect
Permanent or long lasting consequence of exposure
Threshold level
Level below which harmful effects are insignificant or not observable
Poison
Chemical that adversely affects the health of a living human or animal by causing injury, illness, or death
Dose response curve
Shows effects of various dosages of toxic agent on group of test organisms
Threshold dose-response model
A threshold dosage must be reached before any detectable harmful effects occur
Nonthreshold dose-response model
Detectable responses to the initial dosage of a toxic chemical causes harm that increase with dosage
Hazardous chemicals
Chemicals that cause harm by being flammable or explosive, irritating the skin or lungs, or causing allergic reactions of the immune system
Mutagens
Agents that cause random mutations or changes in the DNA molecules
Teratogen
Chemical, ionizing radiation or virus that causes birth defects
Carcinogen
Chemical, ionizing radiation or virus that causes or promotes growth of cancer
Immune system
Specialized cells and tissues that protect the body against disease and harmful substances by forming antibodies that make invading enemies harmless.
Nervous system
brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves
Neurotoxins
Toxins that attack nerve cells
Endocrine system
Network of glands that release small amounts of hormones into the blood stream
Transmissible disease
Disease caused by living organism and can spread from one person to another
Non-transmissible disease
Disease that is not caused by living organism and does not spread from one person to another
Pathogens
Infectious agents spread by air, water, food, body fluids and some insects
Vaccines
stimulate the body's immune system to produce anti-bodies to ward off viral infections
non-persistent
chemicals that break down quickly in the environment
toxicology
the study of the effects of substances on humans and other organisms.
resistant
the capacity of a species or strain of microorganism to survive exposure to a toxic agent (such as a pesticide or drug) formerly effective against it
epidemeology
the study of the occurrence, cause and transmission of disease
GMO
genetically modified organism
routes of exposure
the way in which an individual might come into contact with an environmental hazard
allergens
substances that induce an allergic response
qualitative
data can be observed but not measured. Ex: colors, textures, smells, tastes, appearance, beauty, etc.
quantitative
data that is numbers based.
solubility
a measure of how much solute can dissolve in a given solvent at a given temperature.
half-life
the amount of time it takes for half of a sample of a substance to decompose or decay.
prospective studies
studies that monitor people who might become exposed to harmful chemicals in the future.
retrospective studies
studies conducted using data that have already been collected about events that have already happened.
LD50
A chemical dose lethal to 50 percent of a test population
ED50
the effective dose of a chemical that causes 50 percent of the individuals in a dose-response study to display a harmful, but nonlethal, effect
sublethal effects
the effects of an environmental hazard that are not lethal, but which may impair an organism's behavior, physiology, or reproduction
risk acceptance
an informed decision to suffer the consequences of likely events.
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
1976- authorized the EPA to ban or regulate chemicals deemed a risk to human health or the environment
organic fertilizer
Organic material such as animal manure, green manure, and compost, applied to cropland as a source of plant nutrients.
synthetic fertilizer
fertilizers that are manufactured using chemical processes
broad spectrum pesticide
chemical pesticides that kill many different kinds of organisms, both the target pests and the non-target beneficial ones
selective pesticide
pesticides that focus on killing a narrower range of organisms
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