M1.4 - Home, Work, School, & Community Environmental Exposures

In class, we listed various biological, chemical, and radiological exposures in the different environments of our daily lives: home, work, school, and community. I had originally thought that there would be more exposures in the community, school, and work environment than the home, but after creating the list together in class, I realized that there are just as much if not more. Some exposures that stood out and caught me off guard included glyphosate (found in breakfast cereals), VOC/volatile organic compounds (found in markers), and parabens (found in personal hygiene products).

Comments

  1. Angela GSeptember 9, 2018 at 9:15 PM

    Hi Matt!

    Yes, I also was surprised at just how many exposures are found within the home. And thank you for including the info on the cereals! It is so surprising/ to see that ingredient in cereal! Im wondering about their production and how exactly glyphosate ends up in the cereals.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FINAL BLOG

Image
This semester I've learned so much in this course. It has really made me want to explore future job opportunities in this field because of how engaging it is, and learning how much it impacts myself, people around me, and the planet.  One of the first things I started doing in my life after learning about all the terrible chemicals in personal care products in this class was buying and using products that were more natural-based based on the Environmental Working Group's database. I also started buying and encouraging my family and friends to start using more natural personal care and cleaning products for their health.  Another takeaway was learning of the environmental injustice that happens in low-income neighborhoods and communities, especially the one happening right here in San Francisco's Bayview Hunter's Point neighborhood's old naval shipyard with the radiation.  After learning more about the the air pollution in the modules and doing my research, I...
Read more

M3.4 Air Pollution

In my zip code, the top polluters include Tyco Thermal Controls L.L.C., South Bay Marble Inc., Peterson Prods., Discovery Partners Intl. Chemrx Div., and Equilon San Francisco Terminal. The major pollutants in my zip code includes Syrene, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, Acetonitrile, Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether, and Dichloromethane. Only 1 percent of houses in my zip code have a high risk of lead hazards, and there are currently no Superfund Toxic Waste sites that are on the EPA's National Priority List of Superfund sites. It's scary to know that in 1999, my country was ranked among the dirtiest/worst 10% of all counties in the U.S. in terms of pm-2.5 emissions because of Browning-Ferris Industries and Raychem Corporation. I was shocked to learn that the water quality isn't as clean as I thought it would be with about 80-90% of surface waters with impaired or threatened uses due to pesticides, sediments, and pathogens. On a social/environmental justice basis, my zip code also has people o...
Read more

M5.4 - CCR & Water Quality

The source(s) of my drinking water in Daly City are the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir & Spillway water form the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (60% before 2017, 100% after 2017), and also groundwater produced by local Daly City wells (before 2017). The chemicals found in my water that were higher than expected, or that I did not expect to find included the Trihalomethanes, Haloacetic Acids, but are a byproduct of drinking water disinfection. My family and I do use a filter for our water from our faucet, Brita, and shower water filter to filter out anything really. I do not drink bottled water often because I fill up my big Thermoflask with cold, filtered water from home most of the time and also because I'm worried how much plastic bottles affect the water in bottled waters. http://www.dalycity.org/Assets/Departments/Water+and+Wastewater/Water+Quality+Reports/2017+Water+Quality+Report.pdf
Read more