Week 15: How do we proceed in determining and limiting human exposure to toxic chemicals?
The challenges of identifying hazardous toxins and their solutions.
After learning about the detrimental effects of lead poisoning on brain development, I found this question to be interesting and important. Learning about lead poisoning and its persistence today is shocking. This makes me think of what possible toxins we are currently exposed to that we may not know have long-term detrimental effects. It is vital to understand and identify potential toxins to protect ourselves and future generations. Some ways to manage exposure to toxins include the creation of regulatory measures, risk analysis, and education. Regulations can be implemented into the production of products and disposal of toxic wastes to ensure that toxins do not end up in the products or natural resources that we use. It can be challenging to manage the practices of industries and enforce regulations on them, but if we are able to control the management of toxins, human exposure can be significantly reduced. Risk analysis “involves identifying hazards and evaluating their associated risks” (Miller 2016, 462). Risk analysis helps to identify risks that hazards may pose in order to work to rule out these hazards. This is important in determining issues that may arise from new chemicals and technologies and assessing their safety. Education can help limit human exposure to toxins by raising awareness of the commonly unknown sources of toxic chemicals. For example, I had not known about the prevalence of PFAS in commonly used products like waterproof mascara, so raising awareness for things like this can help reduce exposure. Creating widespread awareness of these issues can be challenging due to inequalities in access to information and the extensive prevalence of hazardous chemicals. Although the presence of toxins is hard to control and avoid, making small changes and educating as many people as we can is important in making a larger difference.
Some gaps in knowledge of toxic chemicals are due to a lack of research on long-term effects and product labeling. To grasp the extensive effects that chemicals have on us, it is necessary for more time to go by and research to be conducted to understand the long-term health impacts. Chronic exposure must be further studied to understand these impacts fully. In addition, gaps in knowledge stem from the various names that toxins can fall under, which makes it hard to rule out products that may have harmful ingredients. Literacy of toxin identification is very difficult and can increase susceptibility to exposure. These issues must be addressed in order to ensure human safety from toxins.
Word Count: 412
Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. 2016. Living in the Environment. National Geographic Learning.
