BHS Environmental Health 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Radon gas exposure is primarily associated with increased risk of which disease?
- Liver cancer
- Leukemia
- Lung cancer (Correct answer)
- Bladder cancer
Correct answer: Lung cancer
Radon-222, a naturally occurring radioactive gas, is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States after cigarette smoking.
Question 2: Minamata disease, first identified in Japan in the 1950s, was caused by environmental contamination with which substance?
- Inorganic lead
- Inorganic arsenic
- Cadmium
- Methylmercury (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Methylmercury
Minamata disease was caused by methylmercury discharged into Minamata Bay by a chemical factory, which bioaccumulated in fish and caused severe neurological damage in people who consumed them.
Question 3: 'Sick building syndrome' (SBS) is best described as:
- A specific infectious disease acquired in hospital settings
- Acute nonspecific health effects in building occupants that improve upon leaving the building, with no specific illness identified (Correct answer)
- Carbon monoxide poisoning from faulty HVAC systems
- Structural deterioration causing physical injury to occupants
Correct answer: Acute nonspecific health effects in building occupants that improve upon leaving the building, with no specific illness identified
Sick building syndrome refers to acute health effects (headaches, eye irritation, fatigue) linked to time spent in a building, with no specific illness identified, often associated with poor indoor air quality.
Question 4: Long-term exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight is most strongly associated with which environmental health outcome?
- Cataracts only
- Melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers (Correct answer)
- Vitamin D toxicity
- Autoimmune diseases
Correct answer: Melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers
UV radiation, particularly UVB and UVA, causes DNA damage in skin cells leading to melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, making them the most preventable environmentally-caused cancers.
Question 5: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are primarily associated with which health effects?
- Acute kidney failure
- Reproductive toxicity, developmental effects, and carcinogenicity (Correct answer)
- Immediate respiratory distress and pulmonary edema
- Iron-deficiency anemia
Correct answer: Reproductive toxicity, developmental effects, and carcinogenicity
PCBs are classified as probable human carcinogens and are associated with endocrine disruption, reproductive toxicity, developmental neurotoxicity, and immunotoxicity due to their persistence and bioaccumulation.
Question 6: The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, was primarily created to:
- Regulate emissions from active industrial smokestacks
- Provide funding for drinking water infrastructure upgrades
- Clean up abandoned contaminated hazardous waste sites (Correct answer)
- Establish workplace chemical exposure limits for workers
Correct answer: Clean up abandoned contaminated hazardous waste sites
CERCLA (Superfund) established a federal program to investigate and clean up contaminated hazardous waste sites, with liability assigned to responsible parties.
Question 7: Organophosphate pesticides cause toxicity primarily by:
- Blocking dopamine receptors in the central nervous system
- Inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, leading to accumulation of acetylcholine at nerve synapses (Correct answer)
- Disrupting thyroid hormone synthesis and secretion
- Oxidizing hemoglobin to methemoglobin
Correct answer: Inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, leading to accumulation of acetylcholine at nerve synapses
Organophosphate pesticides inhibit acetylcholinesterase, preventing acetylcholine breakdown at synapses and causing overstimulation of muscarinic and nicotinic receptors throughout the body.
BHS Environmental Health 2
Radon gas exposure is primarily associated with increased risk of which disease?