Ecosystem toxic chemical threat - Research Paper Example

? ECOSYSTEM TOXIC CHEMICAL THREAT The environment has been exposed to numerous harmful substances due to human activities. Chemical threats often occur by either deliberate exposure of poisonous materials or through accident. These poisonous materials are extremely harmful to humans, animals as well as vegetation. They are released from oil leakages, industrial emissions, motor vehicles among other sources. The emission of dioxins is viewed as a main environmental impact of the combustion process. This paper identifies dioxins as toxic compounds and shows the physical and chemical properties of dioxins and impact of dioxin emissions on public health and environment. The term dioxin refers to a family of toxic chemicals that have a similar chemical structure. They have been characterized by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as carcinogens, which raise the risk of getting cancer, by their exposure (EPA, 2000). Keywords: dioxins, environment 1. Identification and Justification of Dioxins as an Environmental Chemical Threat Dioxins are a group of harmful chemical compounds that significantly affect the ecosystem negatively. The justification for a detailed analysis of this chemical compound has been necessitated by the risk factors involved. These factors have been mainly reported in the United States. Dioxins are formed by burning or manufacturing of substances in the presence of chlorine. Findings released by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) have revealed that, most people especially in United States are exposed to Dioxins from foods. The study shows that adults who consume milk and pork products daily are at a high exposure of dioxins. These compounds accumulate in the body (Costanza, Bryan and Benjamin, 1992). Scientifically, it is known that dioxins are the most lethal of all cancer causing chemicals due their extremely toxic nature (EPA, 2000). 2. Vulnerability of the Environment to Dioxins The environment is vulnerable to dioxins. Plants, animals and human beings are all vulnerable to dioxins. Unlike animals, human beings do not appear to be susceptible to fatal effects of dioxin. In Vietnam, dioxin-based pesticides were sprayed in the 1970’s. Consequently, chronic and acute health effects were observed in military personnel as and in the population of Vietnam. Therefore, this environmental threat is both chronic and acute depending on the genetic make-up of the organism. Severity of potential exposure to dioxins ranges from cancer to non-cancer effects. Some of the non-cancer effects are endocrine disruption, neurological effects, suppression of the immune system and effects on reproductive and sexual development. 95% of human exposure comes from food especially dairy products, fish and eggs. This is because dioxins bio-accumulate in body fat of higher organisms. This chemical threat is systemic because it affects all living organisms in the environment. These threaten the well-being of human beings, rodents, aquatic life and vegetation. Presence of dioxins in vegetation is indicated by wilting or color change in leaves. The methods of eliminating dioxins in the environment are not highly effective. This is due to the complex nature of the dioxin structure. This structure is hard to break down making it difficult to eliminate it from the environment (Young and Reggiani, 1988). 3. Personal efforts to Minimize Emission of Dioxin The activities that I undertake determine what environmental, chemical threats I contribute to the environment. For an example, driving a gasoline car leads to carbon emission, which is a threat to the environment. Carbon emission also occurs when burning firewood, which is detrimental to the environment. Burning firewood especially in the presence of chlorine leads to emission of dioxins which are chemical threats to the environment. In order to mitigate the threat of dioxins to the environment, institutions such as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should regulate dioxin emission by outlining rules that govern the disposal of waste and emissions by manufacturers. Manufacturers should also implement appropriate operating and management practices which play a pivotal role in minimization of emissions. This is by implementing appropriate combustion and gas control practices that prevent excessive emissions of pollutants, irrespective of design of a facility (Ruth, 1998). With regard to dioxin emissions, the most common combustion parameter is carbon monoxide concentration. The government should also ensure that all UNEP Guidelines on Best available Technology (BAT) for Municipal Waste Incineration are implemented. These regulations recommend proper maintenance of feed rate to the furnace, monitoring of combustion temperatures, and sound mixing of air and fuel, in order to mitigate the existence of fuel rich pockets of combustion. The recommended residence time in the combustion chamber is approximately 2 seconds. Temperatures above 1,000°C are necessary for complete combustion (UNEP, 2003). There are several actions that the government, Indiana University, manufacturers, retailers and suppliers could take to train, warn and inform the public in the control of environmental, chemical threats. The government should dictate the rules and regulations that should be followed by manufacturing companies and municipal waste incinerators. Indiana University should make sure that modules that deal with pollution teach the best practices of incineration and cover ways of mitigating pollution. Retailers and supplies can also educate the public on proper ways of disposal. This helps reduce pollution in an enormous way. Personnel who operate oversee combustion in incineration facilities should be regularly trained. They should ensure that the conditions required for safe incineration are attained to avoid pollution of the environment. Conflicting sources Two conflicting sources were encountered while researching. Particularly research carried out by Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) suggested that, dioxins cause severe health effects even at extremely low exposure. On the other hand, Young and Reggiani (1988) suggest that there is no conclusive evidence that dioxins have health effects on human beings. These two conflicting views were rather amusing because the two sources were sharply contrasting. 4. Conclusion Although dioxins are viewed as some of the most toxic man-made substances, there is no conclusive evidence relating present background levels with reproductive, carcinogenic, developmental or immunologic effects. Unfortunately, few public health studies document the exact levels and composition of dioxins among populations and, therefore, the results are inconclusive. However, there is evidence of severe health effects in animal studies where they were exposed to small doses of dioxins. More research should be undertaken in order to identify the chances of a threshold level mechanism of dioxin action for humans. Effects reported by various studies include acne, hyperpigmentation, altered liver and lipid function metabolism, depression and general weakness of the immune system. Human response to dioxin action varies thus sensitivity to dioxin toxicity also varies considerably between individuals. The environment must be monitored for low quantities dioxins. Regular testing also should be done on humans living in areas of high risk. Additionally, concentrations in air, soil, water and foodstuffs should be monitored in order to trace possible routes to contamination. Research is also needed in order to understand the different transfer processes by which dioxins switch between the atmospheric, terrestrial, biological and aquatic environments, and the pollution processes and rates taking place in each medium. Currently, few conditions are regularly monitored on a worldwide scale - only human breast milk is monitored by the World Health Organization - and sampling procedures are not standardized resulting to inconclusive outcomes in most human health studies. Lastly, a system of public information should be put into place that would report on the concentration of dioxins in regions with high concentration of dioxins. Such a system would give the information necessary for the local population to minimize their exposure to dioxins by suggesting different levels of consumption of produced foodstuffs. Since the most crucial way through which humans are exposure to dioxins is through diet, diversification of food supply can dramatically reduce exposure of the local population. References Young, L., and Reggiani, M., eds. (1988). Agent Orange and Its Associated Dioxin: Assessment of a Controversy. New York: Elsevier. UNEP. (December, 2003). Guidelines on BAT and BEP for Municipal Waste Incineration, Expert Group on Best Available Techniques and Best Environmental Practices. Assessment, 45(7), 103-108. U.S. EPA (September, 2000 Draft). Exposure and Human Health Reassessment of 2.3.7, 8 Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin (TCDD) and Related Compounds. EPA, 21(2), 127-140. Ruth, L. (1998). Energy From Municipal Solid Waste: A comparison with coal combustion technology. Prog. Energy Combust. Sci. 24(1), 545-564. Costanza, R., Bryan, G. & Benjamin, D. (1992). A New Paradigm for Environment Management. Management, 10(1), 23-41. National Dioxins Program. (2005). Dioxins and the environment. Retrieved from http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/chemicals/dioxins/ Read More