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Question 1
1 out of 1 points
Of all the human-made contaminants found in the modern environment today, which is the most
widespread?
Selected Answer: PCBs
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Question 2
1 out of 1 points
What is the most problematic step in the risk assessment process?
Selected
Answer:
assessing the actual amount and duration of exposure received by human
populations
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Question 3
1 out of 1 points
Which of the following organisms is most acutely sensitive to the toxic effects of dioxin?
Selected Answer: guinea pigs
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Question 4
1 out of 1 points
Which of the following is characteristic of both PCBs and dioxin?
Selected Answer: chemically very stable, don’t break down readily
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Question 5
1 out of 1 points
What method is required for proper disposal of PCB-containing wastes?
Selected Answer: incineration at very high temperatures
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Question 6
1 out of 1 points
The most serious effect of lead poisoning is:
Selected Answer: damage to brain and central nervous system
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Question 7
1 out of 1 points
Human poisonings due to mercury exposure most commonly result in what kind of health damage?
Selected Answer: brain and/or nervous system disorders
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Question 8
1 out of 1 points
Which of the following statements about LD 50
is false?
Selected Answer: a substance with an LD 50 of 85 is more toxic than one with an LD 50 of 30
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Question 9
1 out of 1 points
PCBs, which biomagnify as they move up the food chain, are most commonly taken up by humans
when they eat certain kinds of:
Selected Answer: freshwater fish
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Question 10
1 out of 1 points
Which two of the following toxic substances are capable of crossing the placental barrier and causing
severe fetal damage in humans?
Selected Answer: lead and mercury
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Question 11
1 out of 1 points
Where do PCBs, dioxins, or any of the chlorinated hydrocarbons concentrate in living tissues?
Selected Answer: fat
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Question 12
1 out of 1 points
What danger is associated with drinking, as opposed to inhaling, asbestos?
Selected Answer: no known health effects
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Question 13
1 out of 1 points
Reaffirming dioxin’s status as an environmental toxin, a recent EPA report cited which of the
following as the major threat posed by TCDD and related chemicals?
Selected Answer: disruption of endocrine hormones
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Question 14
1 out of 1 points
To what toxic substance were large numbers of people inadvertently exposed in Seveso, Italy, and
Times Beach, MO?
Selected Answer: dioxin
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Question 15
1 out of 1 points
Mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung or stomach lining, is known as a “marker disease” because its
only known cause is exposure to what toxic substance?
Selected Answer: asbestos
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Question 16
1 out of 1 points
“Agent Orange” was used in Vietnam by the U.S. military as a:
Selected Answer: selective herbicide
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Question 17
1 out of 1 points
The mosquito-borne illness of greatest concern in the United States today is:
Selected Answer: West Nile virus
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Question 18
1 out of 1 points
For what accomplishment did Paul Muller receive a Nobel Prize in 1948?
Selected Answer: discovered that DDT is effective for killing insects
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Question 19
1 out of 1 points
Which of the following pesticidal groups is most acutely toxic to the pesticide applicator?
Selected Answer: organophosphate insecticides
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Question 20
1 out of 1 points
When did DDT first come into widespread use?
Selected Answer: after World War II—1945
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Question 21
1 out of 1 points
Which of these pests is a problem because its bite results in a painful ulceration which may take
months to heal and leaves a large, permanent, ugly scar?
Selected Answer: brown recluse spider
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Question 22
1 out of 1 points
Which of the following insects could not be controlled through use of a stomach poison?
Selected Answer: mosquito
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Question 23
1 out of 1 points
What was the major reason EPA gave for banning the use of most chlorinated hydrocarbon
insecticides?
Selected Answer: the chemicals had been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals
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Question 24
1 out of 1 points
Lyme disease is a newly recognized ailment transmitted by the bite of which of these pests?
Selected Answer: black-legged ticks
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Question 25
1 out of 1 points
In which of the following groups of organisms would you expect to see the greatest effects of
pesticide biomagnification?
Selected Answer: quaternary consumers (e.g. pelicans)
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Question 26
1 out of 1 points
Which of the following would be a likely target of public health efforts to control breeding of the
Asian tiger mosquito?
Selected Answer: tire casings
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Question 27
1 out of 1 points
An example of a persistent, broad-spectrum insecticide is:
Selected Answer: DDT
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Question 28
1 out of 1 points
The first large-scale use of DDT occurred in Italy in 1943 when the insecticide was used for dusting
refugees in a successful attempt to prevent an outbreak of a deadly disease spread by body lice
which frequently occurs under wartime conditions of overcrowding and poor sanitation. What
disease did DDT prevent in this situation?
Selected Answer: typhus fever
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Question 29
1 out of 1 points
What is the basic cause of the phenomenon known as “secondary pest outbreak”?
Selected
Answer:
population explosion of formerly insignificant pests which become economically
important after spraying eliminates most of their natural enemies
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Question 30
1 out of 1 points
Serious gastrointestinal diseases such as cholera and dysentery are carried by this insect vector:
Selected Answer: houseflies
