Risk

Question 1

Carcinogens always cause a risk, true or false?

Answer 1

True

Question 2

What is risk?

Answer 2

The likelihood of injury, disease, or death. Function of hazard and exposure

Question 3

What is environmental risk?

Answer 3

Risk resulting from exposure to a potential environmental hazard

Question 4

What are the attributes that elevate the perception of risk?

Answer 4

Involuntary
Uncontrollable
Inequitable
Unknown
Permanent effect

Question 5

What the attributes that lower the perception of risk?

Answer 5

Voluntary
Controllable
Equitable
Known
Temporary effect

Question 6

What is risk perception?

Answer 6

Acceptable incremental risk versus cost of controlling the risk

Question 7

What is risk assessment?

Answer 7

The process of estimating the probability of occurrence of an adverse effect on human and ecological health resulting from contaminant exposure

Question 8

What are the three components of risk assessment?

Answer 8

Contaminants
Receptors
Exposure Pathways

Question 9

What are some environmental exposure pathways?

Answer 9

Air
Groundwater, surface water
Sediment
Soil

Question 10

What are some examples of receptors?

Answer 10

Humans
Plants
Mammals
Soil invertebrates
Aquatic organisms

Question 11

List the components of the risk assessment process from start to finish

Answer 11

Hazard assessment
Toxicity assessment
Risk characterization
Exposure assessment

Question 12

What are three paths for toxicant entry?

Answer 12

Ingestion
Inhalation
Eye or skin contact

Question 13

What is acute toxicity?

Answer 13

Poisonous effect resulting from a single short-term exposure to a toxic substance

Question 14

What is chronic toxicity?

Answer 14

Poisonous effect resulting from long-term exposure to a toxic substance

Question 15

What is genotoxicity?

Answer 15

A chemical or other agent that damages cellular DNA

Question 16

What are mutations?

Answer 16

A gene mutation is permanent change in the DNA sequence that makes up a gene

Question 17

What are carcinogens?

Answer 17

Substances that can cause cancer in humans or animals

Question 18

What are teratogens?

Answer 18

Drugs or other substances capable of interfering with the development of a fetus, causing birth defects

Question 19

What are somatic cells?

Answer 19

Cells that make up the tissues and organs of the body

Question 20

What are germ cells?

Answer 20

May transmit to future generations (ie. sperm)

Question 21

What is potency factor?

Answer 21

A toxicity value that quantitatively defines the relationship between dose and response (slope factor)

Question 22

What is NOAEL?

Answer 22

No Observable Adverse Effect Level

Question 23

What is LOAEL?

Answer 23

Lowest Observed Adverse Effect Level

Question 24

Name the four trophic levels from bottom to top

Answer 24

Producers
Primary consumers
Secondary consumers
Tertiary consumers

Question 25

What is bioaccumulation?

Answer 25

The degree to which an organism takes up and retains a contaminant

Question 26

What is biomagnification?

Answer 26

The tendency of some chemicals to become increasingly concentrated at successively higher trophic levels

Question 27

What is bioconcentration?

Answer 27

Absorption or uptake of a chemical from a source to concentrations in the organism’s tissues that are greater than in the surrounding environment