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LESSON:
HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
By Abey
K. Tharian, Leonia High School, New Jersey
Estimated
class time: Two periods
Lesson
Objectives: Students will be able to:
1) Understand
hazardous chemicals, their effect on human health and the environment.
2) Explain the importance of cleaning up hazardous waste.
3) Identify facilities in their neighborhoods that deal with hazardous
chemicals.
4) Recognize local and federal agencies responsible for environmental
hazards in their communities.
Materials:
1) Internet Access
2) Chart Paper & Colored Pencils
3) Appendix
A or (printer-friendly pdf version)
Correlation
to National Science Standards
Introduction
Chemical
manufacturing companies played a vital role in the industrial revolution
of the modern world. During the past two hundred years many new chemical
elements and compounds were discovered and they formed an essential
part of our day-to-day life.
Many household
items such as plastics, paints, batteries, metallic appliances, pharmaceutical
products, petroleum products all contain chemicals directly or indirectly.
As a byproduct of all the great developments in the industrial world,
there came the problem of environmental pollution due to hazardous chemicals
being used in the manufacturing processes. Some of these chemicals,
leaked into the environment or ingested by people, can cause death,
disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutation, physiological
malfunctions and physical deformations. The cost to plant and animal
life can also be high.
Due to
the high cost of cleaning up industrial pollution, some companies who
spill chemicals into the environment have abandoned their sites leaving
behind hazardous waste and polluted soil, water and air.
Nowadays
there are numerous environmental protection agencies all over the world,
whose job it is to prevent pollution of local and national areas. The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one such group.
In 1979
the EPA estimated that there were thousands of inactive and uncontrolled
hazardous waste sites in the country that could pose a serious risk
to public health. Chemical spills posed another danger. Environmental
damage resulting from such spills can result in massive death of fish,
destruction of wild life, air pollution and loss of livestock by contamination
of drinking water. Spills also resulted in loss of life and direct threat
to human health from toxicity, fires and explosions.
Some of
the examples of environmental damages due to hazardous chemicals are
cited below.
1)
Love Canal, Niagara falls, New York
Hooker Chemical Company used this Canal during 1940s and 1950s to
dump 82 different chemical compounds, 11 of them suspected carcinogens.
In 1953 the canal was covered with earth and sold to the city for
one dollar. It was a bad buy. Through the 1960s and 70s, residents,
whose homes were built above the polluted canal, reported odors and
incidents of chemical residues seeping in to their basements and lawns.
The contamination caused miscarriages, birth defects, respiratory
ailments, and cancer.
2)
Bridgeport, New Jersey
In 1977 sparks from a welder torch ignited an accumulation of chemicals
including benzene, toluene and PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) at
a waste storage facility. Six people died and 35 were hospitalized.
3)
Toone, Tennessee (1978-79)
A chemical company dumped pesticide waste into a landfill. Six years
after the landfill is closed, the drinking water is found contaminated
and the city of Toone is required to provide an alternative water
supply to residents living within three miles radius.
4) Riverside, California (1978)
Erosion of the retaining dam for a waste pit threatened eight million
gallon torrent of waste materials including DDT (Dichloro Diphenyl
Trichloroethane), nickel, lead, chloroform and trichloro ethylene.
In order to deal with the hazardous waste problem, Congress proposed
the creation of a "Superfund" - a multi-million dollar federal
toxic waste clean-up initiative. On December 11, 1980 President Jimmy
Carter signed the new Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,
and Liability Act (CERCLA) or "Superfund."
The responsibilities
of the Superfund program were to:
- Determine
the number of sites where potentially significant contamination existed;
- Assess
who was responsible for the waste;
- Develop
a structure to enforce CERCLA;
- Determine
the contaminants and quantities dumped;
- Research
where the contaminants were coming from;
- Calculate
the actual human exposure to contaminants and the potential health
risks; and
- Create
technologies to remove or control contaminants.
Procedure
1. Introduce
the lesson hazardous chemicals. Ask the students about their knowledge
of environmental damage due to hazardous chemicals. Accept any responses
and clarify them.
2. Briefly
explain the role of the EPA and ask them about their knowledge of any
industries dealing with hazardous materials. Accept all answers and
clarify them.
3. Ask
students how they would identify hazardous chemicals and the facilities
that make them. Hopefully students should come with answers such as
"do research" or "refer to books" etc.
Activity
1
1) Divide students into small groups of three each. Direct students
to the EPA's
Cleanup Process page and Appendix A (a pdf version of the Appendix
is provided in the materials section of this lesson), an EPA list of
hazardous chemicals, their sources and effects on health.
2) In small
groups have the students answer the following questions.
Questions
1. What
are hazardous chemicals? Write 5 examples
2. When did the EPA begin its Superfund program? What were the reasons
for its establishment?
3. What are the responsibilities of the Superfund program?
4. What were the environmental effects of Love Canal tragedy? Who
was responsible for the tragedy?
5. What are the four important pathways used by Hazard Ranking System
(HRS) to score a hazardous site?
6. What are the health effects of PCBs?
7. What are the sources of mercury contamination? What are its health
effects?
8. What chemical contaminants are present in dry cleaning agents?
What are the potential health effects?
9. List five health effects of pesticides?
10. Where should you report environmental damage or health effects
due to any facility dealing with hazardous chemicals in your neighborhood?
Activity
2 - Role Play
1. Divide
students into three groups. One group acts as victims of the Love Canal
tragedy (residents of the area) and the second group acts as EPA officials,
local authorities and political leaders (examples may be mayor of the
town, congressmen, senators etc.). The third group acts as the owners
of a mid-sized chemical manufacturing plant being sued for millions
of dollars for leaking chemicals into the ground. This group knows that
if they lose the case, they may be forced to pay out millions and will
definitely go bankrupt. If they come up with some less drastic solution,
they will be able to stay in business and maybe give the affected individuals
some sort of compensation and lead the cleanup effort. However, this
scenario, in which they admit to leaking the chemicals, could cost them
lost business because of bad publicity.
2. Encourage
students to volunteer themselves to join anyone of the groups.
The first group will explain their sufferings due to the effect of hazardous
waste materials. They will make a case for why it should be cleaned
and why they should be compensated. The second group then reacts to
their collective tragedy and articulates ways to help and compensate
the victims and suggest methods to prevent such accidents from occurring
again in the community. The third group tries to come up with the least
costly alternative to cleanup.
Each student
in the first group can tell fake stories based on the following themes:
1. A
man who began suffering from asthma after he moved to the area. He
can also talk about the frequent asthma attacks of his neighbors.
2. A woman experiencing blurred vision.
3. A woman explaining her children's seizures and those of the other
kids in the neighborhood.
4. A man in the neighborhood complaining about unpleasant odors and
his burning eyes.
5. A woman complaining about birth defects in her children and other
kids in the area.
6. A woman experiencing several miscarriages in herself and other
women in the area.
7. A man describing his rare form of cancer.
The second
group of students acting as community leaders and authorities can react
to the above grievances. Each student in this group can give lectures
based on the following themes:
1. Mayor
can talk about the lawsuit he is filing against the company that dumped
the hazardous waste and getting compensation for the victims.
2. EPA official can talk about the steps being taken to clean up the
site and the precautionary measures to be taken by the public.
3. Congressman can talk about rehabilitation and medical care for
the victims.
4. Senator can talk about the steps taken by the federal government
to prevent such accidents in the future.
5. Community leaders can talk about an awareness campaign among the
residents of the area to report health problems.
The third
group represents officials of a mid-sized chemical manufacturing plant,
which is being sued for leaking chemicals into the ground. Each student
in this group can defend the company by giving fake lectures based on
the following themes:
1. The
chief executive officer of the company can explain the chemical leakage
as an accident and not an intentional occurance. The officer may also
empathize with the victims of the tragedy.
2. The vice president of the company can talk about the help being
provided by the facility to the affected people around the area in
terms of medical services and monetary benefits.
3. The general manager can talk about the recent efforts of the company
to clean up the chemical leakage in the surrounding areas.
4. The public relations officer can talk about the importance of the
company for the area in terms of job creation and economic growth.
5. The chief engineer can talk about the new safety equipment being
installed in the company to protect the employees and the environment.
6. Another public relations officer can talk about publishing a monthly
environmental report of the company including air quality, water quality
and soil analysis for the awareness of general public.
7. The manager can talk about the creation of a new safety committee
for the company that includes the representatives of the local communities.
At the
end, the teacher can add some final comments based on the progress of
the role-play activity. Highlight the positive and negative aspects
of the activity and reward them by giving all participants an appropriate
grade for their contribution and performance.
Extension
Activities
1.Using
the EPA's "Where You Live" Web site (http://www.epa.gov/epahome/commsearch.htm),
have students research the environmental quality of their own neighborhood,
write up their findings and share them with the class.
2. Direct
students to the EPA's case
study Web site. Have students choose one case from the list of highly
polluted sites and write a 500-word news article detailing the events
of the community's contamination. Students may use an Internet search
engine such as Google to find additional information about the affected
community. If possible, have students contact current residents of the
site and interview them about the effects of hazardous waste in their
community.
Correlation
to National Science Standards
Content
Standard F: Science
in personal and social perspectives
Environmental
Quality
- Natural
ecosystems provide an array of basic processes that affect humans.
These processes include maintenance of the quality of the atmosphere,
generation of soils, control of hydrologic cycle, disposal of wastes,
and recycling of nutrients. Humans are changing many of these basic
processes and the changes may be detrimental to humans.
- Materials
from human societies affect both physical and chemical cycles of the
earth.
Natural
and human induced hazards
- Human
activities can enhance potential for hazards. Acquisition of resources,
urban growth and waste disposal can accelerate rates of natural change.
- Natural
and human induced hazards present the need for humans to assess potential
danger and risk. Many changes in the environment designed by humans
bring benefits to society as well as cause risks. Students should
understand the costs and tradeoffs of various hazards ranging from
those with minor risk to a few people to major catastrophes with major
risk to many people. The scale of events and the accuracy with which
scientists and engineers can (and cannot) predict events are important
considerations.
Author
Abey Tharian has been teaching science for the past eight years. Currently
he teaches chemistry at various levels at Leonia High School in Leonia,
New Jersey. Mr.Tharian also holds a Master's degrees in Chemistry and
Education and is an adjunct faculty member at Bergen Community College
in Paramus, New Jersey.
To find
out more about opportunities to contribute to this site, contact Leah
Clapman at extra@newshour.org.
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