The+Problem+2


 * The Problem1:** If the town of Basgo wants to built roads, a bridge, and dam, land will have to be cleared to make room for them. Pesticides will be used to get rid of any plant life in the way… Down at the fishermen’s warf, and in marshy areas along the Wild River’s banks, mosquitoes will be plentiful during the summer season. Pesticides will be used to kill the insects so they won’t disturb tourists… The industrial park needs to get rid of some toxic garbage, so they burn it, producing heavy metals and furans into the air… These are just some of the ways that poisons will be introduced into the environment. Once into the watercycle, these poisons will stay in the environment.

Second, these poisons can travel huge distances from where they were released into the environment. If a product is burned, its fumes are carried by wind, and if dumped into a river or ocean, currents can take the poisons other places in the world. This is proven because towns that have never used a certain POP or PCB (click here for definition) often find that chemical in their water or air.

Poisons are also transported through animals, and into the food chain. When an animal (including people) eats a plant that has been sprayed with pesticides or fertilizer, they get a small amount of poisons in their tissues. The amount gradually increases forming a process called bioaccumulation. Each animal they eat has poisons in it. Starting with phytoplankton and other plants, the poisons accumulate as they move up the food chain. Therefore, the higher the animal is on the food chain, the more poison it has in its body.

Click here to see an example of PCB concentration in different animals.


 * The Problem2:** When the poisons get into an animals body, POP’s usually become fats, but they are still dangerous. Even small amounts of a certain poison can have long term effects. For example, mercury can affect movement, vision, coordination, speech, and thinking. Another example is of certain organochlorine pesticides. These often result in birth defects, damaged organs, and cancer.

Click here to go back to Poisons.