What changes our minds? Toxicants, exposure, and the environmentAugust 2012
Lesson 7: If it’s harmful, why do we use it?
Scientist background information
Research scientists, in general, earn advanced degrees in science and have many years training and working in a laboratory to learn a variety of skills. The bulk of their training involves how to answer questions about the natural world using scientific methods. These methods include making hypotheses, designing experiments to test these hypotheses, collecting data and interpreting results to draw conclusions regarding a specific question. It helps that research scientists are often naturally inquisitive, or curious. Because the nature of research is to ask and answer questions, scientists must pay special attention to how an experiment is conducted and how to record and represent obtained results. Scientists must also report experimental results that can be reproduced by other scientists, because one of the core values of valid scientific research is that another scientist can reproduce it. There are a variety of places scientists can work including: colleges/universities, non-profit organizations, government agencies, biotechnology companies, and other private research facilities. Scientists report findings of experiments in peer-reviewed journals. These journals allow other scientists to review the research and either try to replicate the experiments or learn from them and design new experiments to probe the study’s research questions further.
Research Resources for the “Basic Research Scientist” Role
PubMed Research Article Database
A database of research articles that scientists use to find information. The abstracts of the articles are useful to determine what the article is about and what the experimental results show.
Los Angeles Times
New York Times
Both of these news resources report on scientific findings related to toxicants in the “science” and “health” sections of the webpages. The texts are easy to read and designed for the general public.
Science Daily Research News
Another news resource with a specific focus on current scientific research findings.
EPA Representative background information
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a governmental organization tasked with conducting research at federally funded research centers as well as monitoring the condition of the U.S. environment including the water, air, and soil. When environmental questions are asked at Congressional meetings, the EPA usually steps in to conduct its own research concerning these questions. Created in 1970 due to increased awareness of the human health consequences of environmental pollution, the EPA has had a long history of lobbying for laws and policies that protect Americans and the environment from harmful effects of toxicants produced by humans. While Congress passes laws that allow the EPA to take action, the EPA is responsible for writing specific regulations to actually enact the law. The EPA is also involved in monitoring threats to the environment as well as helping individuals, businesses, governments, and industries comply with the regulations that are set under environmental laws. Enforcement is another responsibility of the EPA, with lawyers on staff to take legal action against an organization or business that does not comply with the laws. Essentially, the EPA is concerned with not only enacting laws and regulations to improve the quality of the environment, but also with helping others to engage in more environmentally friendly practices and take action against those who do not wish to comply.
Research Resources for the “EPA Representative” Role
Environmental Protection Agency
The main source of information for what the EPA has accomplished and has collected research on related to environmental topics.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was designed to help Americans with meeting essential human services, including health care, prevention, and help with family members’ health issues. Medicare and Medicaid are housed under this governmental department.
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is tasked with regulating what is in foods and drugs sold in the United States and investigating and approving new foods or drugs that want to be sold in the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control
The Centers for Disease Control, another government organization, is concerned with protecting the health of Americans. They accomplish this with campaigns related to healthy habits promotion, prevention of disease, and preparedness to new health threats. They also conduct research into public health matters.
Industry Representative background information
Industry is a general term for the production of an economic good or service within an economy. This is the sector of society that is responsible for the bought and sold goods/services available in the U.S., from televisions and clothes to banks and computer customer service centers. With such a large stake in the economy, industry focuses on making products that will yield the highest profit, as the primary concern is providing products that people will buy in order to create a profitable business. Typically, industries are focused on streamlining practices, that is, to make business practices the most efficient possible. This means ensuring that the workers making products and providing services do so in the most cost-effective and quickest manner. However, industry is supported by consumers, so if a product or service is not appealing to the public, then the business has to change to ensure people will buy the product or service. Industry rose to prominence during the Industrial Revolution (ca. 1820) when new technologies made it easier for large factories to produce a high volume of goods at a relatively low cost. Since then, the spirit of industrialism has spread across the globe, promoting people’s ability to choose the products they want.
Research Resources for the “Industry Representative” Role
North American Metal Packaging Alliance
The North American Metal Packaging Alliance promotes the use of metal packaging by providing information on the safety and benefits of metal packaging.
Competitive Enterprise Institute
The Competitive Enterprise Institute provides information for those interested in a free market and limited government regulations.
Plastics Europe
This resource has been developed by the BPA industry association PlasticsEurope. It outlines how BPA can be beneficial for society.
Environmental Group Representative background information
Environmental groups typically have a simple agenda: to protect the environment from the destructive forces of human consumption and over utilization of natural resources. There are a variety of environmental groups, but the movement of environmental health specifically focuses on public health and how the environment can affect the health of people. Interestingly, the U.S. environmental health movement began in the Progressive Era (ca. 1900), with the public calling for stricter regulations on drinking water, sewage disposal, and ingredients in foods and drugs. Today, environmental health can span across various sectors, including disease prevention, nutrition, and issues with aging. Environmental groups are comprised of various professionals and other members who are concerned about the safety of humans and what is exposed to different populations. These groups are generally non-for-profit and survive on the donations of individuals and other businesses to support their agenda.
Research Resources for the “Environmental Group Representative” Role
Environmental Working Group
This organization promotes the public health and safety of citizens around the world, particularly those who are most vulnerable. They are a consortium of scientists, engineers, lawyers, computer programmers, and policy experts who examine legal documents and other data to expose threats to human health.
National Resources Defense Council
This organization is primarily concerned with the conservation of environmental resources and ensuring that these resources nor the creatures that live in certain habits are harmed. They are also a group of scientists, lawyers, and other professionals who advocate for strong environmental protection.
Physicians’ for Social Responsibility
This organization describes itself as “the medical and public health voices working to prevent the use or spread of nuclear weapons and to slow, stop and reverse global warming and toxic degradation of the environment.”