The Environment 17 & 18 – Flashcards

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Mining of aluminum-rich bauxite ore contributes to ________.
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deforestation
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Leachate is collected from landfills because it ________.
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may contaminate groundwater
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The most efficient way to generate electricity from MSW is through the use of ________.
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bioreactor landfills
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Why is data on industrial solid waste (ISW) difficult to find?
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ISW is usually managed by the private sector.
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In preparation for moving you help your parents clean out their garage, where you find several cans of leftover paint. How should you dispose of this paint?
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Take it to a household hazardous waste collection center.
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The average American generates about ________ of municipal solid waste each year. (1 kg = 2.2 lbs.)
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725 kg
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The average person in which of the following countries produces the least amount of MSW per year?
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India
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In the United States today, the approach that best reduces the volume and weight of municipal solid waste is ________.
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incineration
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The greenhouse gas produced from most landfills is ________.
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methane
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Biomedical waste is mostly disposed of through ________.
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incinerating
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You just purchased a new cell phone. Why is it a bad idea to throw the old one in the trash?
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It contains heavy metals.
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One proposed site for a permanent geologic repository for nuclear waste was ________.
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Yucca Mountain, Nevada
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Recycling programs, especially for aluminum cans, have become very successful because it requires only ________ of the energy needed to make a can from bauxite ore.
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5%
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Over 100 years ago, nearly 75% of waste made up from residential homes in New York City was ________.
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coal ash
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In Japan, recycling rates exceed ________ of the waste generated.
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50%
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How much waste sent to a landfill does the EPA estimate to be reuseable?
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2-5%
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There are a variety of ways to approach waste reduction, with the exception of ________.
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buying individual items, not in bulk
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Which Act provided funding for the development of state and local waste management programs?
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1965 Solid Waste Disposal Act
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Which of the following Acts prohibited dumping of waste materials into rivers without permits
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1899 Rivers and Harbors Act
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In closed loop recycling, ________.
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the product is reused to produce a similar product
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The environmental impact of a product throughout all the stages of its life can be determined through a ________.
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life-cycle assessment
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Most hazardous wastes come from ________.
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chemical and petroleum industries
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Hazardous wastes are characterized by being mainly ________.
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corrosive, flammable, and explosive
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The most common use of bioremediation has been to assist in the cleanup of ________.
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oil spills
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The Superfund, established to clean up hazardous waste sites in the United States, is a part of the ________.
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Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
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The belief that those who make a product should assume responsibility for that product throughout its life cycle is the basis for ________.
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extended product responsibility
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Which of the following actions is not allowed as part of the EPA's Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Electronics Challenge?
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processing of waste in facilities outside of the United States
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Recycling rates have changed over the years since municipal solid waste recycling was initiated in the early 1960s. During what time period were these rates the highest?
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1985-1990
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During the first 20 years of recycling (from 1960 to 1980), the average annual increase in recycling was approximately ________.
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1 million tons/year
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After examining the graph depicting total MSW generation and per capita generation, the main conclusion one can make is ________.
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personal reuse and recycling efforts are having an effect
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Why have the number of landfills remained constant in recent years?
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Recycling rates have leveled off.
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Municipal Solid Waste
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Materials that are discarded from homes, small businesses, and institutions
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Industrial Solid Waste
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Waste produced in industrial processing before the finished product reaches the consumer
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Waste-to-Energy Facility
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Incinerators that use the heat produced by burning waste to produce electricity
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Sanitary Landfill
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Storage areas for waste that are designed to prevent groundwater contamination, odors, and aesthetic problems
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Compost
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Decayed organic matter that can improve the fertility and water-holding capacity of soil
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Knowing that the Philippines has a growing population that is proving difficult to adequately feed, what waste management approach could help in this problem?
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composting organic material to increase agricultural productivity
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Given the above method of waste management in the Philippines, the most productive overall approach might be ________.
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establishing central transfer stations where waste types could be separated for more efficient and potential use
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Over the past 50 years, the total amount of waste generated by each person in the United States has nearly doubled, primarily because of increased affluence. Discuss three specific actions that an American citizen could take in order to promote a more environmentally sound waste management lifestyle.
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First, reducing the amount of waste generated should be the focus. This can be accomplished by purchasing items in reusable containers, or if this is not possible for some items, then to choose items with as little packaging as possible. Packaging waste (paper and plastic) accounts for a significant amount of waste entering the municipal waste stream. Second, increasing the amount of recycling one participates in would be a significant action. Although the current rate of recycling in the United States is just over 30%, in Japan and many European countries it exceeds 50%. Finally, one could consider reusing some wastes, particularly paper and plastic bags used to carry purchased food and material goods. Never using another paper or plastic bag (using cloth, reusable bags instead) would be a significant action, especially if practiced by every U.S. citizen.
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Nuclear power, with its radioactive waste production, presents unique environmental challenges for waste management. Discuss the two most critical considerations required to safely manage this type of waste.
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First, nuclear power plants primarily generate high-level radioactive wastes, mostly in the form of spent fuel rods. With over 100 nuclear power plants in the United States, these sites are spread over vast regions of the country. They are currently the storage site for their own spent fuel rods: initially in wet storage (to dissipate the extreme heat) and finally in stainless steel casks for dry, longer-term storage. Because spent fuel rods still contain high levels of radioactive material, this waste must be kept away from groundwater, soil, humans, and the environment, even in the short term. Second, because the very long half-life of the radioactive isotopes making up the spent fuel, the safe storage and management requirements are much more comprehensive than on-site storage will allow. Permanent long-term storage continues to be an issue for the United States, as there has not been a central site licensed for this high-level radioactive waste. Although Yucca Mountain, Nevada was proposed, the uncertainties presented by this site, and the nearby community concerns, have resulted in the government's failure to successfully identify a site that will meet all the criteria necessary for permanent storage.
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What pesticide has been primarily used to control mosquito populations?
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DDT
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In 1950 the global infant mortality was ________ times higher than it is today.
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4
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A ________ can be defined as the likelihood of a particular factor impairing health or causing deaths.
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risk
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Which of the following is considered a physical human health hazard?
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earthquake
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Which of the following is considered a biological human health hazard?
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malaria exposure
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In toxicity testing, the dose of a chemical above which there is a measurable decline in the health of the organism being tested is referred to as ________.
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the toxicity threshold
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Building codes in many earthquake prone areas require homes and apartments to be designed to withstand a ________ Richter magnitude quake.
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7.8
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Seventy five percent of weather-related deaths since 1990 have been associated with ________.
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tropical storms
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Human vulnerability to toxins is varied; however, the main influences determining the effects of toxic substances on different individuals are genetics, socioeconomic status, general health, and ________.
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age
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Tropical storms and associated floods have greater impacts in poor countries that have experienced ________.
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deforestation
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Worldwide, death rates from weather hazards have ________.
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decreased
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Toxicologists refer to the total amount of a chemical present in the tissues of an organism as ________.
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body burden
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Toxicology is the study of ________.
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toxin effects on human health
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In toxicology studies, LD50 can be best described as the dose ________.
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at which 50% of an exposed population is killed or displays a specific symptom
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What neurotoxin is of greatest concern for children's health?
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lead
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Residence time is ________.
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average length of time a molecule of a substance spends in the environment
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Bioaccumulation is ________.
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the process by which chemicals are stored in the tissues of living organisms
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Teratogens are often times also ________.
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carcinogens
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Bisphenol A is most often found in ________.
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plastics
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The H1N1 flu virus is common in ________ but rarely transmitted to humans until recently.
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pigs
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Which of the following diseases is transmitted by an insect vector?
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malaria
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As a result of air pollution in urban areas, more children have ________.
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asthma
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In recent years in Africa, more individuals have ________ as a result of parasitic worms in waterways.
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schistosomiasis
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As a result of rapid changes in the development of forest landscapes, ________ incidence is rapidly increasing.
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Lyme Disease
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Toxicologists designate particularly long-lived and widely dispersed organic chemicals as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Which of the following chemicals are in this category?
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PCB
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Which of the following influences perceptions of risk?
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These all influence risk perceptions.
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Which of the following is an example of an indirectly transmitted anthroponosis?
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malaria
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Globally, 80% of all infectious diseases are caused by ________.
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water-borne diarrheal pathogens
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An integrated approach involving ecology, epidemiology, and education has been used to reduce the threat of ________ in sub-Saharan Africa.
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schistosomiasis
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Toxicity Threshold
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The dose of a chemical above which there is a measurable decline in the health measure
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Bioaccumulation
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The process by which chemicals are stored in the tissues of living organisms
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Biomagnification
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Concentrations of a chemical increase at each higher level of the food web
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Carcinogens
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Chemicals that cause or support cancer
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Teratogens
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Substances that cause mutations and birth defects
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How could global climate change be connected with an increase in malaria cases?
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Temperature increases improves mosquito breeding conditions.
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Which of the following nonhuman-related causes has most likely contributed the most to the increase in malaria in Africa?
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increased insecticide resistance
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Debate over the use of DDT to control malaria is likely to continue. However, over the past several decades, much has been learned about how this insecticide works, and why its extensive use poses an environmental concern. Discuss three characteristics of this chemical that cause it to be problematic
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DDT is a synthetic chemical, developed in the mid-1940s as an insecticide to be used against malaria. This chemical has many of the critical characteristics that cause it to be particularly harmful to a wide array of warm-blooded organisms, including humans. Its persistence, transport in the environment, and uptake by many non-target organisms contribute significantly to its environmental health concerns. DDT is not easily broken down in the environment, and even its by-products are toxic. DDT's environmental persistence is estimated to vary between 30 and 100 years. Because it is sprayed over wide areas, it easily gets into water supplies and affects aquatic food webs. Because it is taken up by insects and other small organisms found in lower trophic levels, its ability to bioaccumulate in higher organisms in the food chain is dependent on its fat solubility characteristic. That is, DDT is able to be stored in the tissues of living organisms without breaking down, and this characteristic leads to its biomagnification in the food web. Organisms that feed on other organisms whose tissues have stored DDT, are likely to store an even higher concentration. Some of the most well-documented environmental effects of DDT have been egg-shell thinning in birds of prey; however, cancer and developmental abnormalities have also been documented in amphibians and other higher vertebrates.
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Discuss three of the most important factors influencing a person's vulnerability to environmental toxins.
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The effect of toxic substances on humans varies considerably, depending on the factors of genetic makeup, age, health, and socioeconomic status. Firstly, one's genetic makeup plays an important role in susceptibility to chemicals. There is a growing body of evidence showing that humans vary in the ability of their DNA to be altered by toxic chemicals, thus equal toxicant exposures can result in quite a difference in susceptibility to cancer. Age particularly influences vulnerability because the young and developing, human nervous system undergoes enormous changes during the first decade of life, making children particularly vulnerable to neurotoxins. Finally, there is a growing body of evidence showing that socioeconomic status affects vulnerability to toxicants. Not only do poor people have more limited access to health care, they are also much more likely to live in environments that increase their risk of exposure. Living in older homes with lead paint, or living closer to industrial and waste facilities, are often considered normal living conditions for lower socioeconomic groups.
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