Scientific American & LOAEL Reflection

Today, I read a fascinating article in Scientific American about toxic pollution. This comes as my Honors Environmental Science class works on a lab determining the lowest observable adverse effect level various home products on red wheat. My group is currently studying the lowest observable adverse effect level of multi-purpose cleaner on our red wheat plants. While this lab is in a controlled setting, the Scientific American article on toxic pollution was eye-opening; the article explained how nine of the top ten toxic pollutants threatening the health of both humans and the environment were human-caused. The only exception to this list was arsenic, which is a naturally occurring. This means that the remaining nine toxins are contaminating the environment due to human actions through practices such as agriculture and industrialisation. Toxins such as mercury are leaking into delicate ecosystems and destroying precious organisms. My group’s lab represents the serious threats ecosystems face each and every day. We’re studying just how much toxicity red wheat plants can handle before they begin to deteriorate in condition and die. Everything in nature has a limit, and if humans don’t change the way we act and protect the environment, the consequences could be detrimental to our own existence. 

These toxins are contaminating our water supply, polluting the air we breathe, and shortening the lifespan of countless people. Those less-fortunate are affected by this crisis to an even further extent. In developing countries, some people have no choice but to work in mines with very little protection and face all the saddening consequences. This even occurs in the United States. It was recently discovered that the water supply of Flint, Michigan, a lower-income community, was contaminated with lead. The severity of the effect this had on flint residences is still not entirely known. Overall, this article was quite fascinating, yet simultaneously depressing. We need to change the way we do things if we’re serious about saving this planet we call home.

Image 1: http://www.healthjournalism.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/mercury.jpg

Image 2: http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Osnos-Crisis-in-Flint-Goes-Deeper-Than-the-Water-1200.jpg