ENSC 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Arsenic Poisoning, Rodenticide, Bioavailability
16 Aug 2016
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Document Summary
Environmental mobility (from one compartment to another) Hazard the ability of a chemical to produce toxicity (harm, adverse response) Risk the probability that the hazard will occur under defined conditions. Hazard: mining and processing of gold produced arsenic trioxide (known to be highly toxic, sold off as rat poison) Most of arsenic trioxide is buried and remediation plans include freezing the storage chambers: exposure limited by burial and freezing, storage chambers leak arsenic to groundwater, which is pumped and treated. Hazard is mobile, some moves from solid arsenic waste to dissolved arsenic (changes compartments: arsenic is not toxic to bacteria (different receptor) Risk from legacy stack emissions stack emissions released arsenic trioxide to regional lakes and soil lower concentration than buried arsenic: higher exposure, many potential receptors, multiple compartments. 1951- stack emissions uncontrolled: baby died of acute arsenic poisoning, parents gave child a bottle with formula & snow (laced with arsenic trioxide) Study of ways poisons interact with biological systems.
