Environmental Toxicology
Islam Attalla
Dr. Held
BL 126.01
11 November 2010
Toxicology
Environmental Toxicology is a young (1965) and interdisciplinary science that uses both basic and applied scientific knowledge to understand natural and human caused pollutants, life cycle and their impacts upon structure and functions of biological and ecological systems. Research in Environmental Toxicology includes both laboratory experiments and field studies. The main purpose of Environmental Toxicology wants to answer two main questions 1.) How the release pollutant causes harmful effects? 2.) What can we do to prevent or minimize risk to biological and ecological system?
Environmental Toxicology’s objective is breakdown into a 5-steps understanding process useful for research/regulation:
• Release of pollutant into the environment
• Transport and fate into biota (with/out chemical transformation)
• Exposure to biological and ecological system
• Understanding responses and/or effects (molecular to ecological systems)
• Design experiments, remediation, minimization, conservation, and risk assessment plans to understand, eliminate, prevent or predict environmental and human health pollutions situations.
People misunderstand Environmental Toxicology as a scientific discipline that only focus on chemicals into the environment. Environmental toxicology covers more than only chemicals into the environment; it also includes studying and understanding the adverse effects caused by those chemicals' release into the environment on living systems such as wildlife, aquatic species, pets, humans and ecological systems. Furthermore, the rich fabric of ideas, core concepts, literature body, technology and ideologies that merge together to develop Environmental Toxicology is rather a dissimilar process through most educational institutions. This may be the point in case that Environmental Toxicology is a young interdisciplinary science and controversy regarding what to include in a curriculum is an
Dr. Held
BL 126.01
11 November 2010
Toxicology
Environmental Toxicology is a young (1965) and interdisciplinary science that uses both basic and applied scientific knowledge to understand natural and human caused pollutants, life cycle and their impacts upon structure and functions of biological and ecological systems. Research in Environmental Toxicology includes both laboratory experiments and field studies. The main purpose of Environmental Toxicology wants to answer two main questions 1.) How the release pollutant causes harmful effects? 2.) What can we do to prevent or minimize risk to biological and ecological system?
Environmental Toxicology’s objective is breakdown into a 5-steps understanding process useful for research/regulation:
• Release of pollutant into the environment
• Transport and fate into biota (with/out chemical transformation)
• Exposure to biological and ecological system
• Understanding responses and/or effects (molecular to ecological systems)
• Design experiments, remediation, minimization, conservation, and risk assessment plans to understand, eliminate, prevent or predict environmental and human health pollutions situations.
People misunderstand Environmental Toxicology as a scientific discipline that only focus on chemicals into the environment. Environmental toxicology covers more than only chemicals into the environment; it also includes studying and understanding the adverse effects caused by those chemicals' release into the environment on living systems such as wildlife, aquatic species, pets, humans and ecological systems. Furthermore, the rich fabric of ideas, core concepts, literature body, technology and ideologies that merge together to develop Environmental Toxicology is rather a dissimilar process through most educational institutions. This may be the point in case that Environmental Toxicology is a young interdisciplinary science and controversy regarding what to include in a curriculum is an