Environmental Toxicology Scavenger Hunt Essay
Find products in your home or items in your surroundings that you are exposed to daily that contain at least 1 contaminant from each category of the following substances (for a total of 10 contaminants):
- heavy metals
- harmful solvents
- volatile organic compounds or vapors
- pesticides
- radiation
Use the Contaminant Scavenger Hunt document to track the information for each contaminant. Complete the assignment in this MS Word document. Do not create a separate document or write a paper. Please ensure that you:
- Classify the contaminant as a heavy metal, harmful solvent, volatile organic compound or vapor, pesticide, or radiation.
- Identify the source or sources of the contaminant. Where does it come from?
- Where is the product located in the house?
- Describe how the contaminant affects plants and humans. What are the harmful impacts?
- What is the route of exposure, meaning how does the actual exposure to the harmful contaminants occur? Examples could be ingestion, inhalation, skin (dermal) exposure, etc.
- Once inside the body, how is the contaminant transported and distributed? Does it impact certain organs, bones or blood, for example?
- In the event of a very large, short-term exposure what is the immediate the toxic response, or symptoms?
- How the contaminant is eliminated from the body or detoxified (processed) in the body?