Chapter 17 – pages 463 – 485 – Read and answer the following questions.
Due Block Day May 2/3
THIS IS THE VERY LAST READING GUIDE FOR THE YEAR!! Yay!! 😊
1. Explain the three different categories of health risk, give an example of each. Which risk causes the most human
deaths?
2. Explain the difference between infectious disease, chronic disease and acute disease. Give an example of each.
3. Explain how economics lead to different health risks (Figure 17.3).
4. Explain the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic.
5. Was the bubonic plague a biotic or abiotic limiting factor for the human population? Explain!
6. What causes the disease malaria? How is the disease spread?
7. The traditional approach to eliminating malaria was the use of insecticides, such as DDT. Explain two concerns
with this approach. Explain the vision of Bill Gates to “eradicate” malaria.
8. Explain two present day concerns with tuberculosis, TB.
9. Explain why infectious diseases include a subcategory, “emergent”. Choose one of the “emergent” infectious
diseases and explain the cause, the concern, the most practical strategy to combat the disease. If the disease
you chose is more prevalent in a region or people of the world include that as well.
10. Explain the difference in strategies to combat disease in low and high income countries.
11. Explain how chemical health risks are connected to biological health risks.
12. Explain the difference between a neurotoxin, carcinogen, teratogen and endocrine disruptor. Give an example
of each.
13. Explain the difference between the ED50 and LD50 of specific chemicals.
14. Read and work through “Do the Math” page 475.
15. Epidemiology is the study of illness and disease in human and wildlife populations. Explain the difference
between a retrospective study and prospective study. Give an example of each.
16. Figure 17.20 indicates the possible pathways for humans to be exposed to chemicals. Which route do you think
is most worrisome? Justify!
17. Explain what solubility is. In what type of ecosystem are water-soluble chemicals more likely to be found?
18. Study Figure 17.21 – This is a visual representation of the biomagnification of the insecticide, DDT. What other
chemical have we studied this year that we know demonstrates biomagnification?
19. Explain the concept of half-life. How is this related to the persistence of a chemical?
20. Give an example of an environmental hazard.
21. Explain the difference between risk assessment, risk acceptance and risk management.
22. Explain the difference between qualitative and quantitative risk assessment. Have you ever formally done risk
assessment? If so, what was the condition?
23. Explain the advantage of the precautionary principle with regulation of chemicals.
24. What is meant by the “dirty dozen” – not the movie ? WWWWH – (Who, What, Where, When and How)