Managing Chemical Exposure
You are exposed to millions of different compounds every year, some of which are dangerous, while others are completely innocuous. Examples of dangerous compounds would be pesticides such as DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), which has been banned in the United States, while ammonia, a less dangerous compound, is used as a household cleaner. Because some chemicals are much more dangerous than others, it is important to be able to figure out how to manage your exposure in an informed, intelligent way. In this Discussion, you will consider how chemical exposure is managed.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has created an excellent list of some common chemicals that people should learn more about when making decisions about their exposure risk.
Get started on this Discussion by accessing the list:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013).Occupational health guidelines for chemical hazards. Retrieved fromhttp://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/81-123/
Next, choose one of the compounds on the list. Be sure to review the compounds your classmates have chosen and carefully choose one that has not already been written about.
Click on the revised guideline if there is one. If not, click on the original guideline.
This will open up a factsheet for your chosen chemical. Use this factsheet to create your first Discussion posting for this unit. This first posting will be a quick reference, or mini-version of the factsheet and should contain:
• The name of the compound you chose.
• Any synonyms it goes by.
• What it looks like and/or smells like.
• A summary of its health effects on humans.
• Who might be exposed to this compound and how.
Then, during the course of the unit, respond to several of your classmates' posts:
• Are there similarities between their chosen compound and your own?
• Are you or someone you know at risk of exposure to any of these compounds?
• Who, in particular, might you warn about the dangers of these chemicals?
• Who might not have good access to this kind of information about exposure, and what could you do to help them make good choices about exposure?
• What ideas do you have to help people in the United States learn about the CDC-National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) publications and resources that are available?