A Brief Note On Biotechnology And Its Effects On Environmental Problems

Not many people fully know what happened at Chernobyl, or understand the effect it has had on today’s nuclear science. Chernobyl has been named as the largest man-made disaster ever recorded. Chernobyl is the most influential and important event during the 1980’s because it has completely changed how the world views anything nuclear by changing experimentation and usage of nuclear materials and power as a whole. It was extremely influential because it caused thousands of people to move out of their homes, while damaging nearby cities and countries and covering the surrounding area in radioactive smog, and is still a threat to surrounding cities and countries today. It also has caused the nearby area to be thriving with wildlife.

The prevalence of environmental issues in the public awareness reached a point where government was forced to take action in 1979. When Henry Love abandoned construction of a canal in New York in 1920, the site was bought by Hooker Chemical and used as a toxic chemical waste dumping site for the next 33 years (Schons 2011). Then in 1953 Hooker Chemical sold the Love Canal to the school board, and construction of a school began. In the mid to late 1970s, when children’s shoes began melting to the ground and children got sick the residents organized and protested. Media coverage increased and showed toxic black sludge oozing into people’s basements (Schons 2011). The lack of awareness of environmental and health consequences of chemical dumping

(Events of Fukushima Nuclear disaster) The Fukushima Nuclear disaster had many effects on the environment and health, some of its effects on the health are, infection of skin and that is mainly caused because of radiation and chemicals in the water after the incident and little supply of clean water, it also impacted the citizens physiologically (mainly the mothers, kids and workers) who might have diseases as anxiety and depression, problems in pregnancy, related to deficiency of iodine in the body, and some hormones not functioning properly, all these causes might lead to still birth, and miscarriage and finally, radiation syndrome which is caused because of the release of massive amounts of radiation, spread of cancer (as thyroid cancer) because of radiation, and ascend of genetic inheritable diseases As in Diagram 2 (Health Concerns in Fukushima), we can signify that the percentages of cancer increased highly because of the disaster in comparison to nowadays and especially between people of ages (1month-20years)

This document, Recipe for Disaster: Motherhood and Citizenship at Love Canal, holds focus to the decades between 1960-1980’s in which the residents of Niagara Falls, New York faced a large problem of toxic waste surrounding their homes. Its author, Amy M. Hay, reveals specific characteristics about the area such as homes being built on the toxic land in addition to the toxins taking a toll on the environment. In “the Love Canal” as it is nicknamed, children are constantly falling to illnesses’, mothers seem to keep falling victim to miscarriages, and residents are faced with the dilemma of deciding between leaving or remaining in their homes at the Loving Canal. Correspondingly, all of the aforementioned seems to be happening on a constant

On April 26, 1986, a nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant experienced a catastrophic meltdown that emitted radioactive material into the atmosphere, killing 31 people.

(MP1) What Chernobyl plant represented in 1980s and who is responsible for such a massive disaster

Early in the morning of April 27, 1986, the world experienced its largest nuclear disaster ever (Gould 40). While violating safety protocol during a test, Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl power plant was placed in a severely unstable state, and in a matter of seconds the reactor output shot up to 120 times the rated output (Flavin 8). The resulting steam explosion tossed aside the reactor’s 1,000 ton concrete covering and released radioactive particles up to one and a half miles into the sky (Gould 38). The explosion and resulting fires caused 31 immediate deaths and over a thousand injuries, including radiation poisoning (Flavin 5). After the

There have been lots of nuclear accident around the world. One of the accident that had a major impact on the world was the Chernobyl disaster. The disaster took place on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. The disaster was caused by a reaction explosion induced by design faults and staff application errors. The accident took place in the course of scheduled tests to check the power supply mode in the event of external sources loss. Even after 10 days, explosions and ejections of radioactive substances continued. The release of radiation and radioactive substance polluted the places within 30 km of Chernobyl, and those areas have been closed for a long period of

Contaminated land has been perceived as the occurrence of relatively rare, but potentially catastrophic incidents, with unforeseen and poorly understood consequences for human health, communities (Verplanken, 1990) and the environment, for example Barnes et al (2002); Levine (1982). Currently, contamination represents a widespread infrastructural problem of varied intensity and significance (Nathanail, 2004). Mass industrialisation and the technological advancements seen throughout much of Europe and North America during the 20th century can be characterised by disproportionately large increase in emissions of contaminants into the environment, where soil is often the ultimate sink

The Chernobyl accident was a disastrous nuclear event that happened on 26th April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. The Chernobyl disaster is classified as a level 7 event according to the International Nuclear Event Scale (only two events have been classified this high in the past) and has caused damages that consist of the cost of 500,000 workers and 18 billion rubles, 31 deaths according to the Soviet casualty count (this is still being disputed) and between 4000-27000 affected future deaths due to radiation exposure [G1].

Although municipal water can contain a vast array of contaminants, several continued to repeatedly show up in water of the cities studied. Among the most frequently found contaminants were Arsenic, mentioned earlier, and other toxic chemicals such as radon, the rocket fuel perchlorate and other carcinogens, which may cause skin problems, birth defects, reproductive problems and even cancer. High Volumes of Lead were found, which enters the drinking water supplies from the corrosion of old pipes and

On 11 March 2011 in Japan, the Fukushima nuclear power plant was seriously damaged by an earthquake and the radioactive substances were leaked to the surrounding. Local people had to evacuate away and up till now they are living under threat.

Groundwater contamination has many far reaching environmental, political, societal and economic effects. Groundwater contamination, while obviously potentially detrimental to human wellbeing, can have a large impact on localities in any region of the world. When toxic agents are introduced into a groundwater system it puts all local wildlife in immediate danger. This includes the health of both flora and fauna near or in the flow from the source of contamination. Human health can also be impacted by this type of contamination. Toxic agents, in my example specifically tetrachloroethene (PCE), have many harmful effects on human health including affecting the central nervous system, causing cancers and causing pulmonary edema (Tetrachloroethylene Toxicity, 2017).

Everyday pesticides are dumped into our environment. Over time most of the pesticides make thier way to a source of water, whether it's groundwater or a body of water. According to Lewis Regenstein author of "America the Poisoned" two thirds of the nation's lakes have serious pollution problems. 80% of 3,700 urban lakes in the United States are destroyed. More than 94 million residents could use these lakes for recreational use or for a source of water (169). Cincinnati's drinking water contains about 700 chemicals. 90% of them did not exist 20 years ago. The main sources of most of these chemical pollutants are municipal sewage, industrial discharges, and runoffs from farming areas. There are also several other chemicals in America's drinking water. Although hazardous, there are approximately 60 chemicals that are mixed into water in the process of treating it. Unlike rivers or lakes, underground supplies are not processed at treatment plants before being used by humans. "More than one hundred million of our citizens depend in a whole or in part on underground as sources of drinking water (Beck qtd. in Regenstein 172). Once groundwater becomes contaminated, there is usually no way to clean it.

Ruf, Andrea. "Soil organisms as an essential element of a monitoring plan to identify the effects of GMO cultivation. Requirements – Methodology – Standardisation." BioRisk 8: 73–87 (2013) 1-16 Web. 3 Feb. 2016.