Toxic and Dangerous Substances, Essay Example

According to Donald A. Shafer, quoting the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are nine specific classes of hazardous materials–Class 1 Explosives; Class 2 Gases; Class 3 Ignitable Liquids; Class 4 Flammable Solids; Class 5 Oxidizers; Class 6 Toxic and Infectious Substances; Class 7 Radiation;  Class 8 Corrosives; and Class 9 Environmental (Hazardous Materials Characterization, 33). Examples of these hazardous substances and materials includes for Class 1, dynamite and nitroglycerin; Class 2, oxygen and hydrogen; Class 3, gasoline, kerosene, and various types of acetones; Class 4, polymers and plastics; Class 5, various chemicals used in manufacturing; Class 6, biological contaminants; Class 7, radioactive materials like uranium and plutonium; Class 8, acids; and Class 9, various substances related to pollution and factory run-off.

The health hazards related to these substances and materials varies greatly and can affect many different parts of the body, both internally and externally. As detailed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, hazardous substances are considered as being “severely harmful to human health and the environment” and although mostly harmless in their natural state (except for radioactive materials and certain types of gases), are quite dangerous when released into the environment or through an accident are touched, inhaled, and consumed. As outlined in the Superfund law, there are currently more than 800 substances deemed as hazardous to human health and the environment with “many more as potentially hazardous, due to their characteristics and the circumstances of their release” (“Hazardous Substances”).

Most of these substances affect the human body, such as toxic and infectious substances botulism and anthrax that can cause severe health problems related to the lungs, the central nervous system, and the cardiovascular system. Substances like corrosives and acids can severely burn the body and if inhaled can cause permanent damage to the lungs and other body organs. Substances like polymers and radioactive materials, such as uranium and plutonium isotopes, can cause “severe health effects, including behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions,  kidney failure, physical deformations, birth defects, and even death (“Hazardous Substances”). Perhaps the most dangerous substances are those that burn intensely and create an explosion like acetone, polymers, hydrocarbons, nitrate-based compounds, and especially radioactive materials that can cause acute toxicity via prolonged exposure to the radioactive source, thus resulting in severe health problems and death (“Hazardous Substances”).

In the web article “Toxic Chemicals: The Cost to Our Health,” the authors discuss the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act which was designed to protect  Americans for exposure to toxic and dangerous substances, both in the workplace and the environment. However, the rules and regulations set out in this act by the federal government and the EPA in 1976 need to be greatly expanded, due to the fact that chemicals used for industrial and manufacturing purposes “have become more pervasive in daily life” and are now better understood in relation to “some of our country’s most serious health problems, including childhood cancers, asthma, impaired fertility, birth defects, and learning disabilities” (2009).

This article also discusses how toxic chemicals and substances have contributed to a rise in some major health problems in the United States, such as leukemia, brain cancer, and other childhood cancers that have increased more  than 20% since the Toxic Substances Control Act was created in 1976. In addition, toxic chemicals have been identified as being responsible for an increase in breast cancer rates, asthma, “conceiving and maintaining a pregnancy,” birth defects, and autism which has increased tenfold since the early 1990’s (“Toxic Chemicals”).

Unfortunately, with the rise in the use of toxic chemicals in manufacturing and in building products, plastics, personal care items, and household cleaners and solvents, a number of serious health problems in the U.S. have also risen dramatically, such as breast and testicular cancer, learning and developmental disabilities, and Alzheimer’s disease which has been linked to toxic levels of aluminum. These chemicals have also been shown to cause “impairment

to the reproductive system, an increased risk of certain types of cancer, asthma, and developmental disabilities” like autism (“Toxic Chemicals”).

Obviously, the U.S. federal government and the EPA need to create more stringent laws that will help to protect Americans from the often lethal effects of exposure to toxic chemicals and substances. But in the meantime, individuals and families must be more vigilant when it comes to using certain toxic substances that could negatively affect their health far into the future.

Works Cited

Hazardous Substances. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2011. Web. Accessed 28 September 2012. http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/hazsubs/cercsubs.htm

Shafer, Donald A. Hazardous Materials Characterization: Evaluation Methods, Procedures, and Considerations. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.

“Toxic Chemicals: The Cost to Our Health.” Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. 2009. Web. Accessed 28 September 2012. http://www.saferchemicals.org/PDF/resources/health_case.pdf