Verified Document

Good Bacteria And Bad Bacteria Term Paper

Environmental Hazards What are toxicants and how do they affect living organisms?

According to Dr. Celine Godard, toxicants and toxins both reference substances that are toxic; however, toxins are made in nature (like in poisonous mushrooms or in the poisonous venom that snakes use to kill their prey) and toxicants are human made (Godard, et al., 2001). Examples of toxicants would be "industrial waste products and pesticides" -- along with pollutants that get into the oceans. In fact pesticide residues (toxicants) are found in the ocean, and Godard's article in the Public Broadcast Service (PBS) is about how the Ocean Alliance is researching the impacts that toxicants have on sperm whales.

Sperm whales are exposed to the pollution (toxicants) that humans allow to flow into the oceans, and the whales have a "layer of fat called blubber" beneath their skins; Godard explains that toxicants accumulate in fatty tissue and so the longer the whale lives, the more toxicants accumulate in its blubber (body). This accumulation of toxicants in a whale's body is called "bioaccumulation" -- and sperm whales are also subject to "biomagnification" (Godard, p. 2). Biomagnification is the magnifying effect that toxicants have on species as it moves...

A fish that eats ten shrimp (and each shrimp has 1 unit of a toxicant), and in turn if a bigger fish eats ten of the smaller fish, the bigger fish now has "100 units of toxicants" in its body (Godard, p. 2).
What are disease-causing agents? Select two agents -- describe their effects and how they are transmitted:

Disease-causing agents are actually "biological pathogens" that spread disease, and those pathogens can find their way into the human body through a number of ways (Education Portal). The two agents to be discussed are viruses and bacteria. Viruses are the most common kind of disease-causing agent -- or at least the agent that most people come into contact with and are familiar with. Viruses can cause the flu, and chicken pox, West Nile disease HIV, and other diseases once they get into your blood stream (Education Portal). Hepatitis A is also a virus, and it causes liver failure; echoviruses can cause meningitis.

There is good and bad bacteria; the Education Portal reports that most bacteria that humans come into contact with are not necessarily harmful -- in fact, many bacteria "actually provide some health benefits."…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Education Portal. (2011). Disease-Causing Agents in the Environment: Definition and Types.

Retrieved November 7, 2014, from http://education-portal.com.

Godard, C. (2001). The Toxicant Build-up. KCET / PBS. Retrieved November 7, 2014, from http://www.pbs.org.

World Health Organization. (2012). Global Climate change and Human Health. Retrieved November 7, 2014, from http://www.who.int.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Nutrition Class Chocolate Why the Bad Rap
Words: 13679 Length: 50 Document Type: Term Paper

Chocolate: Behind Its Bad Rap In today's society, chocolate is everywhere. It seems that people have developed a love-hate relationship with chocolate. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, in 1997, the average American ate 11.7 pounds of chocolate. American adults ranked chocolate as the most-craved food and as their favorite flavor by a three-to-one margin. (Mustad, 2001) Throughout the world, exists a society of chocolate lovers. While Americans consume, on average,

Moxifloxacin in Pharmacology
Words: 5562 Length: 12 Document Type: Term Paper

(16) The drug has better coverage against Gram-positive cocci and atypical pathogens, and it is able to achieve excellent penetration into respiratory fluids and tissues. One particular adverse effect of the drug is that it may result in gastrointestinal disturbances, and thereby affect the individual's metabolism. (17) e) How does metabolism influence clearance, bioactivity and elimination? At times, the metabolism does tend to affect the absorption and the clearance of

Kimchi in an Ancient Korean Food Made
Words: 1396 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Kimchi in an ancient Korean food made from a pungent mixture of fermented vegetables and its variations amount to 80 kinds of dishes of that period (Raymond). For the season's summer and fall it is made in small quantities because the fermentation can go bad, but for winters it is made in large quantities so that it can be eaten for 3-4 months of the winter season. The Kimchi curing

Products and Services That the
Words: 3842 Length: 14 Document Type: Case Study

This is because the public image that is created can be very good for creating a good reputation and company image. This is mainly fueled by positive consumerism.CSR should therefore be integrated into corporate strategy. Environmental problems Food Packaging Almost all parts of the industries that deal with packaging, not excluding food packaging, are facing several environmental problems. For instance, the shops that are dealing with fast-food are receiving a lot of pressure

Bioavailability Gut Health and Nutrition
Words: 2008 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

Article 14 claims centered on children's health and reduction of disease for a Biomed probiotic called lactoral and its three strains. The submitted studies supported the health claim of the strains but not to the bacterial strains of the probiotic. Biomed's phenotypic testing were not accepted as sufficient to properly identify the bacterial strains. The claim, "natural intestinal microflora during travel," had not been sufficiently characterized. On the four

What You Can T See Can Kill You or Help You
Words: 428 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Classification of Microorganisms The world is rife and full of what are known as microorganisms. These microorganisms, also known as microbes, come in a number of different forms. Five in total, these groups are viruses, bacteria, algae, fungi and protozoa. It is important to know why these different groups are classified differently and what each of them do. As is clear to most people, these groups range from the harmless to

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now