This topic contains a solution. Click here to go to the answer

Author Question: What methods are used to test chemicals for their potential to cause cancer? What will be an ... (Read 13 times)

dollx

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 558
What methods are used to test chemicals for their potential to cause cancer?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

What is biodiversity? What do scientists need to know to calculate it for a habitat?
 
  What will be an ideal response?



Related Topics

Need homework help now?

Ask unlimited questions for free

Ask a Question
Marked as best answer by a Subject Expert

nekcihc358

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 327
Answer to Question 1

We do not want to wait 20 years to find out that a new food additive causes cancer, so we turn to animal testing to find out now what might happen in the future. A test involving several hundred animals (usually mice) takes about 3 years and costs more than 250,000 . If a significant number of the animals develop tumors after having been feed the substance being tested, then the substance is either a possible or probable human carcinogen, depending on the strength of the results. Although there are obvious differences between rodents and humans, all chemicals shown by epidemiological studies to be human carcinogens are also carcinogenic to test animals, suggesting that animal tests have some predictive value for humans. In the past, chemical manufacturers that were interested in assessing the safety of pesticides (in order to have their products approved for use) paid human subjects to test the products. Such tests are far less expensive than the usual animal testing. (Volunteers may be paid only a few hundred dollars; mice apparently charge much higher fees) A National Academy of Sciences panel addressed this topic in 1998, stating that the use of human volunteers to facilitate the interests of industry or of agriculture' is unjustifiable. The EPA agreed and banned any use of such tests. However, recently the Bush administration, responding to requests from manufacturers, pressed the EPA to reevaluate its policy and allow human testing. A new rule from EPA forbids such testing on children and pregnant women (but allows it for others), satisfying the pesticide manufacturers. Another source of information is the chemical process itself: What are its physical and chemical properties, and what mode of action might the chemical process take in inducing cancer? Hazard assessment takes a weight-of-evidence' approach to determining the carcinogenic potential of a chemical of process. Standard descriptors are used in its conclusions, such as likely to be carcinogenic to humans.' In the end hazard assessment tells us what may be a problem.

Answer to Question 2

Biodiversity is the result of speciation and extinction occurring over time, and the result of these two processes has been the gradual increase in the number of species. No one knows how much biodiversity exists. Estimates range widely, and the upper-limit estimates keep rising. Groups especially rich in species are the flowering plants (270,000 species) and the insects (950,000 species), but even less diverse groups, such as birds or ferns, are rich with species that are unknown to most people.




dollx

  • Member
  • Posts: 558
Reply 2 on: Jul 15, 2018
Wow, this really help


mcabuhat

  • Member
  • Posts: 344
Reply 3 on: Yesterday
YES! Correct, THANKS for helping me on my review

 

Did you know?

According to animal studies, the typical American diet is damaging to the liver and may result in allergies, low energy, digestive problems, and a lack of ability to detoxify harmful substances.

Did you know?

Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the breathing tubes (bronchi), which causes increased mucus production and other changes. It is usually caused by bacteria or viruses, can be serious in people who have pulmonary or cardiac diseases, and can lead to pneumonia.

Did you know?

Stroke kills people from all ethnic backgrounds, but the people at highest risk for fatal strokes are: black men, black women, Asian men, white men, and white women.

Did you know?

More than 34,000 trademarked medication names and more than 10,000 generic medication names are in use in the United States.

Did you know?

Egg cells are about the size of a grain of sand. They are formed inside of a female's ovaries before she is even born.

For a complete list of videos, visit our video library