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| 9738121201 | area sources | Sometimes also called nonpoint sources. These are diffused sources of pollution such as urban runoff or automobile exhaust. These sources include emissions that may be over a broad area or even over an entire region. They are often difficult to isolate and correct because of the widely dispersed nature of the emissions. | 0 | |
| 9738121202 | biomagnification | The tendency for some substances to concentrate with each trophic level. Organisms preferentially store certain chemicals and excrete others. When this occurs consistently among organisms, the stored chemicals increase as a percentage of the body weight as the material is transferred along a food chain or trophic level. For example, the concentration of DDT is greater in herbivores than in plants and greater in plants than in the nonliving environment. | 1 | |
| 9738121203 | carcinogen | Any material that is known to produce cancer in humans or other animals | 2 | |
| 9738121204 | contamination | Presence of undesirable material that makes something unfit for particular use. | 3 | |
| 9738121205 | disease | An imbalance resulting from poor adjustment between the individual and the environment. | 4 | |
| 9738121206 | dose response | The principle that the effect of a certain chemical on an individual depends on the dose or concentration of that chemical. | 5 | |
| 9738121207 | ecological gradient | A change in the relative abundance of a species or group of species along a line or over an area. | 6 | |
| 9738121208 | ED-50 | The effective dose, or dose that causes an effect in 50% of the population on exposure to a particular toxicant. It is related to the onset of specific symptoms, such as loss of hearing, nausea, or slurred speech. | 7 | |
| 9738121209 | electromagnetic fields (EMF's) | Magnetic and electrical fields produced naturally by our planet and also by appliances such as toasters, electric blankets, and computers. There currently is controversy concerning potential adverse health effects related to exposure to EMF in the workplace and home from such artificial sources as power lines and appliances | 8 | |
| 9738121210 | heavy metals | Refers to a number of metals, including lead, mercury, arsenic, and silver that have a high atomic number. They are often toxic at relatively low concentrations, causing a variety of environmental problems. | 9 | |
| 9738121211 | hormonally active agent (HAA) | Chemicals in the environment able to cause reproductive and developmental abnormalities in animals, including humans. | 10 | |
| 9738121212 | LD-50 | A crude approximation of a chemical toxicity defined as the dose at which 50% of the population dies on exposure. | 11 | |
| 9738121213 | mobile sources | Sources of air pollutants that move from place to place, for example, automobiles, trucks, buses, and trains. | 12 | |
| 9738121214 | noise pollution | A type of pollution characterized by unwanted or potentially damaging sound. | 13 | |
| 9738121215 | organic compounds | A compound of carbon; originally used to refer to the compounds found in and formed by living things. | 14 | |
| 9738121216 | particulates | Small particles of solid or liquid substances that are released into the atmosphere by many activities, including farming, volcanic eruption, and burning fossil fuels. Particulates affect human health, ecosystems, and the biosphere. | 15 | |
| 9738121217 | persistent organic pollutants (POPs) | Synthetic carbon-based compounds, often containing chlorine, that do not easily break down in the environment. Many were introduced decades before their harmful effects were fully understood and are now banned or restricted. | 16 | |
| 9738121218 | point sources | Sources of pollution such as smokestacks, pipes, or accidental spills that are readily identified and stationary. They are often thought to be easier to recognize and control than area sources. This is true only in a general sense, as some very large point sources emit tremendous amounts of pollutants to the environment. | 17 | |
| 9738121219 | pollution | The process by which something becomes impure, defiled, dirty, or otherwise unclean. | 18 | |
| 9738121220 | risk assessment | The process of determining potential adverse environmental health effects to people following exposure to pollutants and other toxic materials. Generally includes the four steps of identification of the hazard, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. | 19 | |
| 9738121221 | synergism | Cooperative action of different substances such that the combined effect is greater than the sum of the effects taken separately. | 20 | |
| 9738121222 | synthetic organic compounds | Compounds of carbon produced synthetically by human industrial processes, as for example pesticides and herbicides. | 21 | |
| 9738121223 | TD-50 | The toxic dose defined as the dose that is toxic to 50% of a population exposed to the toxin. | 22 | |
| 9738121224 | thermal pollution | A type of pollution that occurs when heat is released into water or air and produces undesirable effects on the environment. | 23 | |
| 9738121225 | threshold | A point in the operation of a system at which a change occurs. With respect to toxicology; it is a level below which effects are not observable and above which effects become apparent. | 24 | |
| 9738121226 | tolerance | The ability to withstand stress resulting from exposure to a pollutant or harmful condition. | 25 | |
| 9738121227 | toxic | Harmful, deadly, or poisonous | 26 | |
| 9738121228 | toxicology | The science concerned with study of poisons and their effects on living organisms. The subject also includes the clinical, industrial, economic, and legal problems associated with toxic materials. | 27 | |
| 9738256903 | PCBs | Banned in 1979 in US. Carcinogenic organic chlorine compound used as coolant fluid for TVs, Toasters, refrigerators and more electrical equipment. | 28 | |
| 9738293958 | Neurotoxins | toxins that are poisonous or destructive to nerve tissue. Include venoms, heroin, pesticides( DDT), cocaine and ethyl alcohol | 29 |
