Environmental Toxicology

Environmental Toxicology

Environmental Toxicology, also known as “Ecotox” is the study of the toxic effects of various drugs and chemicals on living beings. Harmful effects of such chemical and biological agents as toxicants from pollutants, insecticides, pesticides, and fertilizers can affect an organism and its community by reducing its species diversity and abundance in turn affecting productivity and stability of ecosystem.

There are many sources of environmental toxicity that can lead to the presence of toxicants in our food, water and air. Every day, all of us ingest tiny amounts of these chemicals. The EPA estimates there are more than 20,000 chemicals that our bodies cannot metabolize. Chemicals not metabolized are stored in the fat cells throughout our bodies where they continue to accumulate.

These sources include organic and inorganic pollutants, pesticides and biological agents. There can be so called point sources of pollution, for instance the drains from a specific factory but also non-point sources (diffuse sources) like the rubber from car tires that contain various chemicals and heavy metals that are spread in the environment.