Bio 2106: Environmental Biology

Lab 3: Your House Can Be Hazardous To Your Health

Lab Requires:  Internet Access

Time to Compete: 2-3 days, YOU MUST COMPLETE ALL FOUR PARTS OF THE LAB FOR FULL CREDIT

In the readings about hazardous waste (if you are taking Bio 2206), you learned that childhood leukemia in Woburn Massachusetts was linked to the local drinking water.  Many of the materials in the neighborhood, the work place, even your homes can be dangerous to your health and have devastating consequences. Frank Zappa, a well known musician who died of prostate cancer at the age of 52, use to play with mercury on his bedroom floor as a child. His father brought it home from the factory where he worked. Zappa also suffered from chronic sinusitis in his youth. His doctor’s solution was to place radon pellets up Zappa’s nose for six months to clear his bronchial passages…

We now know that playing with mercury and radon will kill you.  But neither Zappa, nor his family, had any idea that chemicals brought into their home were lethal.  Thus is it crucial to be aware of your own environment and the chemicals that can harm yourself, and your loved ones.

In this exercise your job is to search your house for 10 chemicals that may be toxic. The garage, laundry room, workshop and bathroom cleaners are good places to start. If you can not find 10 in your own home, go visit a friend of family member and search their environment. Unfortunately, it won’t take long

Part A: Identifying Harmful Products

1.      List the ten substances you have found and fill out the following table. Please follow all the safety instructions on the manufacturer’s label when handling the product!

SUBSTANCE (chemical name) and it’s function

Location in House

Warning Label on Product

Toxicity Level

Proper Disposal

Ex. Bleach To kill germs

Laundry room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part B: Checking Toxicity’s

Now that you have your ten substances, go to the Internet and type in the following address at the URL prompt:  http://www.herc.org/library/msds.htm. This site will give you the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS's) for 50 or more common household products. Manufacturers are required to post this information by law: but if doesn't always end up on the back of the bottle where it would be easy for you to see it and read it!! Another site which gives you general information (in case your product is not at the first site) is http:/www.cleaningpro.com/toxic.cfm. This is a very large site with a lot of useful (and sobering) information. Scroll down half way or more to find the toxicity information for house hold products (you can use this site or find one of your own). 

Locate the ten substances that you found in you home and look each one up. Write a brief paragraph about each substance that compares the information that is listed by the independent web against the information provided by the manufacturer’s label. For instance you may note that important information about the substance is incorrect, minimized, or missing altogether from the manufacturer’s label. Please note which substance in your home is considered most dangerous.

Part C.  Alternative Solutions To Toxic Substances

Frequently, there is a non-toxic, alternative substance to replace your toxic chemical. Often health food stores and environmentally friendly stores carry these products. Here in Austin, we have a variety of stores that carry non-toxic alternatives. These stores include Sun Harvest, Whole Foods Market, Central Market, and the Wheatsville Food Coop In this part of the assignment you need to go to one, or more of these stores and find an alternative product for each of your toxic substances- in other words a product that will serve the same function (such as bleach that whitens) but without the toxicity. If you can not find a store that carries you product, go to http:/www.cleaningpro.com for some ideas.

 

Toxic Substance

Alternative Product

Store that carries Alternative

Difference between the two products

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D. Weighing the alternatives

You now have two products, which can potentially serve the same function in you home. One is more toxic than the other. For each of the original 10 substances, choose the one (toxic OR nontoxic) which you believe you will actually use in the future. There will be cost and benefits for each product: the alternative product may not work as well, may not last as long, may require special sprayers or pumps, or simply cost more that you can afford. Thus to complete this part of the assignment, for each of you ten substances, you must state which substance (toxic or non toxic) you will buy, and give your reasons why.