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These activities are designed for Grades 9-12
1) Pollutants in Your Community
By law, you have the right to know what types of synthetic chemicals are being released into local land, air, and water. Begin by showing the section of the program that looks at one community's efforts to discover the effects of industrial chemicals in their backyard. (Begin at about 41:00 with the narration "This is the largest lead smelter in the United States·" End at about 49:00 with "It took people actually investigating lead to figure out that we were being lied to.") Have students research pollutants common in their area by consulting the following Web site maintained by the Environmental Defense Fund at http://www.scorecard.org
To prepare, have students type in their zip code to obtain a report for their general area. Note that each report is divided into four topic areas: air, waste, land, and water. In addition, each topic is divided into two subtopics. (Note, students can also access information from their state environmental agency. Find your state-wide agency at http://www.pbs.org/now/science/kidsmap.html).
Organize students into small groups and assign each group one of the topics or subtopics. Have the groups prepare reports by analyzing the findings for their topics and conducting additional research. Ask groups to review information provided in the "Environmental Justice" report and to consider how their community compares to nearby communities, their state, and the nation. Have groups present and discuss their findings. What environmental hazards are most urgent in their community? How does their community compare to nearby communities, their state, and the nation? How credible are the sources of information? What results were surprising? What new questions do they have?
2) Pregnancy and Environmental Health
Many factors determine the health of a newborn baby, including nutrition, genetics, the mother's health during pregnancy, and prenatal care. Environmental hazards can also play a role. Substances harmful to a fetus are called teratogens. Whether or how they affect a fetus depends on many factors, such as the type of substance, the amount of exposure, and when during pregnancy the exposure occurs; additionally the effects of many substances have not been proven. Show students the section of the program that looks at how researchers are investigating the effects of synthetic chemical exposure on the developing fetus. (Begin at about 16:00 with the narration "But exposure is only one piece of the puzzle·" End at about 34:30 with Dr. Frederica Perera saying, "It's going to take a tremendous amount of hard work and stamina and some real struggles.")
Have students first investigate some of the substances that do or could provide additional risk for a pregnancy woman's fetus. See the site: http://teratology.org/jfs/teratologyindex.html
Now have students consider when in pregnancy certain systems might be most at risk (a teratogen seems to be most harmful when organ systems are developing most rapidly). Pregnancy usually lasts about 40 weeks (although between 36 and 42 weeks is normal), and is divided into the following trimesters:
Trimester 1: 1 day post-ovulation to 10 weeks
Trimester 2: 10 weeks to 30 weeks
Trimester 3: 30 weeks to birth
Have students look at the following sites, make a chart that shows which organs are developing when, and answer the questions that follow.
Click on "Pregnancy: Month by Month."
http://www.med.umich.edu/obgyn/smartmoms/pregnancy/index.htm
Intended for advanced biology or physiology students.
http://www.visembryo.com/baby/index.html
1) In which trimester is it most likely that exposure to a teratogen may result in the most damage to a child's upper and lower limbs? (The first trimester. This is the time at which all major body organ systems are formed.)
2) When would the brain be most at risk? (The second trimester and on. Extremely rapid brain growth begins at 20 weeks.)
To help students learn about precautions to take during pregnancy to minimize exposure to teratogens, have them read the following feature: A Checklist for Prospective Parents. See also, PBS's The Secret Life of the Brain. (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/episode1/index.html)
3) Understanding the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act
In the program, Dr. Philip Landrigan of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City tells Moyers: "Of the 3,000 high-production volume chemicals in use in this country today, only 43 percent have been even minimally tested. Only about 10 percent have been thoroughly tested to examine their potential effects on children's health and development." The 1996 Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) seeks to change this statistic by directing regulators to re-evaluate more than 500 pesticides and set stricter standards for the protection of children.
While the FQPA has significant implications for public health, the 50-page legal document can be difficult for the general public to understand. Have students get acquainted with the FQPA by reading the EPA's Highlights of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 http://www.epa.gov/opppsps1/fqpa/fqpahigh.htm.
What parts of the act do students feel are clear and understandable? What parts do students feel need further explanation? To help students deepen their understanding, have them read the Food Quality Protection Act Fact Sheet from Penn State and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Program. The document is located at:
http://www.pested.psu.edu/fact13.html
What questions does this fact sheet answer for students? What questions remain? Consider the following questions for discussion. What is a tolerance? Why does the law take into consideration "overall exposure" to pesticides when setting tolerance standards for the use of pesticides on foods? Why may children be more vulnerable to pesticide exposure than adults? How does the FQPA address this increased vulnerability? In certain cases, such as a significant disruption of U.S. food production, a pesticide not meeting safety standards may be authorized for use. What are the risks and benefits?
To help inform the public of the law, the FQPA requires distribution in grocery stores of a brochure that gives an overview of the law, explains health effects of pesticides, and suggests how to avoid risks. Have students create a brochure for a section of the FQPA that they feel is important to understand. Why is it important for the public to understand this section? How should information be presented in the brochure? As an example, direct students to the EPA's Pesticides and Food brochure at the following site:
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/food/.
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