acute toxicity 423
chronic toxicity 423
Comprehensive Environmental
      Response, Compensation,
      and Liability Act (CERCLA) 426
corrosiveness 420
hazardous 421
hazardous substances 420
hazardous wastes 421
ignitability 420 		incineration 431
LD50 423
National Priority List 427
nonpersistent pollutant 424
persistent pollutant 424
pollution-prevention hierarchy 429
reactivity 420
Resource Conservation
      and Recovery Act (RCRA) 421
Superfund 426 		synergism 424
threshold level 423
toxic 421
toxicity 421
waste minimization 430

On-line Flashcards
      What should be done with TNT-contaminated wastewater that is left when an army ammunition plant closes? Grow weeds in the water? Check out the relationship between explosives and plants such as American pondweed in Phytoremediation/
wetlands Treatment at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant.
      What does a government do with tons of anthrax bacteria, plague, typhus, smallpox, and other disease-causing organisms? The Soviet Union thought these toxins were destroyed after the biological weapons program was discontinued in the late 1980s. Now it appears that some of the toxins weren't actually destroyed. Find out what is happening in Biological Weapons Waste Site Threatens to Spread Diseases in Aral Sea Region.
      What if you or your family lived near chemical plants that were targeted during the NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia? When feeding yourself and your family, environmental cleanup is not always a choice. See what local residents must face in Environmental Costs of Bombing in Yugoslavia. 		      Do you live near a contaminated site? What are your risks? Even if you do not live near industrial sites, the toxic buildup from industrial effluents can affect you. PCB contamination is adversely affecting Norway's polar bears even though they are not located near the sources of these contaminants. For more information about unusually high levels of PCBs in Arctic humans and animals, read Norway's Polar Bears Suspected Victims of PCB Contamination.
      What if you live close to the original site of PCB contamination? Read PCB Contamination in the Fox River for the history and latest news on plans for cleanup.
      Wildlife in the Lake Bogoria National Reserve in Kenya is adversely affected by toxic chemical releases from nearby sewage and industrial sources. Check out Flamingos Die in African Rift Valley Lakes for the details of how the buildup of contaminants is killing hundreds of birds.
      Sometimes the release of toxic chemicals is not an accident. Read British Petroleum/Amoco Admits to Dumping Toxic Waste on Alaska's North Slope to see how this company managed their toxic wastes.
Review Questions
  1. Explain the problems associated with hazardous-waste dump sites and how such sites developed.
  2. Distinguish between acute and chronic toxicity.
  3. Give two reasons why regulating hazardous wastes is difficult.
  4. In what ways do hazardous wastes contaminate the environment?
  5. Describe how hazardous wastes contaminate groundwater.
  6. Why is there often a problem in linking a particular chemical or hazardous waste to a particular human health problem?

  1. Describe what is meant by the U.S. National Priority List.
  2. Describe five technologies for managing hazardous wastes.
  3. What is meant by pollution prevention and waste minimization?
  4. Describe the pollution-prevention hierarchy.
  5. What are RCRA and CERCLA? Why is each important for managing hazardous wastes?
Critical Thinking Questions
  1. Scientists at the EPA have to make decisions about thresholds in order to identify which materials are toxic materials. What thresholds would you establish for various toxic materials? What is your reasoning for establishing the limits you do?
  2. Go to the EPA's website (www.epa.gov/enviro/html/ef_ overview.html) and identify the major releasers of toxic materials in your area. Were there any surprises? Are there other releasers of toxic materials that might not be required to list their releases?
  3. According to the textbook, in North America alone there are over 25,000 abandoned and uncontrolled hazardous-waste dumps. Many were abandoned before the RCRA law of 1976 was passed. Who should be responsible for cleaning up these dumps?
  1. Look at the textbook's discussion called "Hazardous-Waste Dumps--A Legacy of Abuse." Do the authors present the information from a particular point of view? What other points of view might there be to this issue? What information do you think these other viewpoints would provide?
  2. Many economically deprived areas, Native American reservations, and developing countries that need an influx of cash, have agreed, over significant local opposition, to site hazardous-waste facilities in their areas. What do you think about this practice? Should "outsiders" have a say in what happens within these sovereign territories?
  3. After reading about the problem with hazardous wastes and toxic materials in China, do you think that the United States, or any other country, should have the right to intervene if another country is creating significant environmental damage? Why?