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Design and Health Considerations
Published in Traci Rose Rider, Margaret van Bakergem, Building for Well-Being, 2021
Traci Rose Rider, Margaret van Bakergem
The topic of transportation is multilayered as it relates to human health impacts. The issues of emissions are even more salient when we begin to talk about extended, regular transportation emissions, such as seen in commuting. While transportation and construction emissions may see more of a spike over time – say in bulldozers, tree-clearing equipment, and asphalt trucks for a year or two – the impact of commuter transportation is extended and will not eventually just go away. In this case, the instances of emissions are extended over years and likely decades. With this extended impact, emissions and air pollution become a notable health concern, particularly around those communities with heavy commuter populations or near high volume roadways. For example, populations nearby intense and sustained motor vehicle emissions such as highways may be at higher risk of being exposed to higher levels of air toxins or suspected carcinogens. Exposures to air toxins can cause noncancerous health effects as well, such as neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, reproductive, or immune system damage.37 The EPA also references how children exposed to outdoor coarse particulate matter from roadways are more likely to develop asthma and need emergency room or hospital treatment.Ibid
Toxicity and Toxins
Published in Gary S. Moore, Kathleen A. Bell, Living with the Earth, 2018
Gary S. Moore, Kathleen A. Bell
A toxin can produce a harmful effect upon an organ by either stimulating or depressing the normal metabolic actions of that particular organ. Very small amounts of toxic agents have the ability to stimulate function(s) in a variety of organs, whereas larger doses may impede or even destroy the activity of the organ involved. The body is able to detoxify foreign substances principally through the liver and other organs such as the kidneys, intestines, and lungs. Sometimes adverse effects occur when the quantity of the toxic substance in the body overwhelms the body’s detoxification mechanisms or when injury or illness has compromised the body’s ability to detoxify substances. The harmful effects of environmental toxins are dominated by three principal mechanisms: (1) the toxins influence on enzymes, (2) direct chemical combination of the toxin with a cell constituent, and (3) secondary action as a result of the toxin’s presence in the system.13
Environmental and Health Effects Due to the Usage of Wastewater
Published in Mu Naushad, Life Cycle Assessment of Wastewater Treatment, 2018
Ponnusamy Senthil Kumar, G. Janet Joshiba
Agricultural wastes consist of phosphorus and nitrogen, and the presence of excess nutrients in the wastewater causes eutrophication, which results in the growth of unwanted toxin-synthesizing algal species. The consumption of such toxins causes skin diseases, gastroenteritis, nervous system damage, and liver damage. The toxins produced by the cyanobacteria seem to be carcinogenic. The intake of nitrites, even at low concentration, results in a deadly disease called methemoglobinemia. Methemoglobinemia is related to nitrates in drinking water above the most extreme contaminant level (10 mg L−1) as set by the US Environmental Assurance Agency.
Water quality risks in the Murray-Darling basin
Published in Australasian Journal of Water Resources, 2023
Sara G Beavis, Vanessa NL Wong, Luke M Mosley, Darren S Baldwin, James O Latimer, Patrick Lane, Aparna Lal
Cyanobacteria can have considerable impacts on human health through exposure to the variety of cyanotoxins they produce (Funari and Testai 2008; Merel et al. 2013). These toxins can cause liver, dermatological, digestive, and neurological diseases when ingested by humans and other mammals (Carmichael et al. 2001). In the tropical and subtropical waters of Australia, the hepatotoxin cylindrospermopsin produced by a variety of cyanobacteria is common, and has been associated with a range of health problems, including but not limited to vomiting, hepatomegaly and kidney dysfunction in humans via contaminated drinking water supplies (Byth 1980). Livestock deaths have also been reported in the Murray-Darling Basin from various toxic blooms (Codd et al. 1994). Neurotoxic cyanotoxins, affecting the nervous system and brain have also been reported in Australian waters, with various anatoxins identified in Anabaena, Oscillatoria and Aphanizomenon species of cyanobacteria (Méjean et al. 2014). Recently, the amino acid BMAA, which is associated with increased incidence of neurodegenerative disease, has been identified in eight genera of cyanobacteria found in eastern Australian freshwater systems (Violi et al. 2019).
Rapid-assessment test strips: effectiveness for cyanotoxin monitoring in a northern temperate lake
Published in Lake and Reservoir Management, 2020
Jaime F. LeDuc, Victoria G. Christensen, Ryan P. Maki
Sampling took place once in June, once in July, several times in August and early September 2017, and several times in September and October 2018. Pictures were taken of the water at the sites during each visit and the amount of visible algae was estimated using values from 0 (none) to 5 (highest). Water samples were collected for toxin analysis by 2 methods: test strips and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).