Noah Swart

Blog Topic

Fat Tom – Hygiene

Mr. Moss

Keep in mind how safe are the foods you eat

  When it comes to food, hygiene is the largest concerns many people have with it. When you buy something from a fast-food establishment, or a grocery store you expect it to be safe for consumption. Along with this you expect the employees of such establishment to have proper hygiene. The term FAT-TOM has become very popular in the food service industry.

  The term FAT-TOM is a mnemonic wording used to describe six conditions that are typically present in the growth of food-borne pathogens. F stands for food, being that food is the substance microorganisms will feed off of.  A stands for the acidity that needs to be present around the areas of pH 4-7.5 to thrive properly in a condition. T stands for the time that is typically required for a bacterial organism to survive and grow, typically in the case of three hours. The second T stands for temperature, for typically microorganisms and bacteria can’t survive in extreme heat or extreme cold. O stands for the oxygen, because very few forms of life can survive without sufficient oxygen. 

Finally M stands for Moisture, which is the biggest key factor in the growth of mold and pathogens.

Don't sanitize in plastic

  Food safety is typically regulated by the FDA and other big federal institutions, but oversight is always a big problem. It should be up to the business to properly hire and train employee’s that understand the dangers such bacterial organisms can show. It also rests on the individual to understand such dangers poor hygiene can prove to themselves and others around them. Vigilance is an actual proper form of industrial and hygienic safety. Reporting such violations is possible through food safety hotlines and organizations. The FDA has a report page for large corporate violations, and such whistle-blower report pages. FAT-TOM just briefly scrapes the edge of such problems and shows an underlining hygienic problem in our society.

   

Noah Swart

Blog Topic

6 Steps Sewage Treatment

Mr. Moss

A former waste disposer (Urinal)

   When it comes to taking care of our waste, we typically think of those banana peels we threw away or even the trash as it gets picked up from our front yard and driven away. What people don’t think about is our bodily waste and how hard it is to treat. The treatment of human waste has been something that is continuously changing to be more environmentally friendly and with less human interaction. Human waste carries multiple different pathogens and can cause numerous health problems. That’s why when your sewage system runs into problems, or you find yourself in a place where you don’t have a proper disposal system it’s important to know how to manage it.

   Through the Ohio department of health one can find a helpful six step process in creating a sewage treatment system. These six steps are laid out as such, the first step is to be sure you have the right papers to build such a system, so call your local health department and find out what you need to do. Secondly you will need a proper soil evaluation, this is due to the factors that can affect how your waste seeps into the earth and at what rate, along with if the soil is too loose and will cause waste to flow downhill. Thirdly you should work with a sewage system designer, as you are probably not fully knowledgeable about how to build such a system, and how it’ll effect your lot of land.

The most common waste disposer

   Fourthly you will start to obtain quotas of pricing for building such a system, typically from multiple different contractors you can determine the median price of such a system. Once you have selected a contractor your work can begin. By the fifth step construction of your new sewage treatment system will have started, and might even be by the end process. When it reaches a certain point you will have to have a local health department employee to come and inspect it to make sure it’s up to code. Your sixth and last step will be properly operating and monitoring your waste system for problems and complications that can always arise. With all these steps taken you should have a working waste managing system. 

Noah Swart

Blog Topic

Coli-form Bacteria

Mr. Moss PHD

A lake in which Coli-form Bacteria
could be present (My picture)

  Bacteria is one of the most prevalent organisms in our environment, it’s constantly over everything we touch, eat and rest on. Like many different dangers in our environment bacteria is invisible to the human eye. Although contrary to popular public belief most bacterial organisms aren’t harmful to their hosts. In fact numerous bacteria actually aids in the natural circles of life, such as the decomposing of dead organisms. Without certain bacteria’s our bodies wouldn’t be able to work in a perfect sync. Coli-form Bacteria is one of these really important bacteria’s.

  Often called Total Coli-form Bacteria, is a microorganism that is abundant all around the world. Including the dirt we walk on, the cold blooded animals that slither, and warm blooded creatures such as ourselves. Coli-form is one of the key components to breaking up the food that we eat, so it is usually prevalent in the digestion system. Although not all forms of Coli-form are as beneficial as that in our bodies, such in the case of Fecal Coli-form Bacteria which due to an excess amount of heat in warm blooded creatures waste it allows with the buildup of other harmful bacteria to make themselves present. 

An Old Well - Probably used for safe
drinking water. (My picture)

  You can come in contact with all forms of Coli-form Bacteria through ingestion of water that’s run through soil, or even by drinking small amounts of open natural water sources, such as lakes, rivers, and ponds. Although coming in contact doesn’t always mean you’ll become ill from it but such in the case of Fecal Coli-form if its present that usually is an indicator that other dangerous bacteria’s are nearby.

  What are ways to prevent contamination with this bacteria? The answer is quite simple and something that humans were able to solve in the early days of civilization, drink from wells or other clean water sources that aren’t exposed to such bacteria’s. Wells uses water that is deep under the earth and thus has no contact with above ground soil or animal waste to create a contamination.  Of course there are other numerous methods to purify your water, if it be through boiling methods or chemically. You just always have to be aware of the dangers one can face. 

Noah Swart

Blog Topic

Cinci/Clev Air

Mr. Moss

Smog

  When it comes to the quality of day to day life our clean air is actually a very important thing. Most people don’t really think about how clean their air is compared to the more populated places of the world. Some cities are completely covered in smog, causing air quality problems for generations to come. In certain places it gets so bad that people will wear an air filter to protect their health. This smog and overall bad air quality is due to the cost of industrial advancement at the cost

of the environment and even the health of a big chunk of the population. Although a lot of the extremely polluted cities are in the countries of China and India the United States isn’t exempt from criticism. The United States has a few cities that have dangerous levels of air pollution, LA being an easy example in the growing problems air pollution can have on the environment. Although the United States in recent years have been making steps to clean up air quality and hopefully protect future air quality.

Cleveland

  When it comes to the large clusters of Midwestern cities most people assume that they’d be the ones most effected by air pollution, as the Midwest is a big industrial supplier to much of the United States. Ohio being probably one of the big Midwestern states and having a border all along the Appalachian Mountains an area known for its mountain blasting. The Two cities come into question, those cities are those of Cincinnati, which borders the bottom left border of Ohio and Cleveland standing by the great lakes at the top of the state’s border. Being very big cities both with a hand in the industrial industry you have an easy case to compare the two and see how location and weather can have an effect on air quality. Using the Ohio EPA – Air Quality Chart one can check the current air quality status of both cities. Both currently have a green check for good air quality, but with Cincinnati having a PM AQI of 45 and an Ozone AQI of 38 compared to Cleveland’s PM AQI at 44 and Ozone AQI at 46. You can see that the difference between the two is very small, and both cities have a very positive air quality. Overall to compare Cincinnati has a more positive air quality but neither has any real potential for later adverse health effects.   

Noah Swart

Blog Topic –

 Is round up harmful?

Mr. Moss                           

Round-Up

   Is roundup harmful? That’s a complicated question, as roundup is a pesticide thus its intent is that it is harmful to the environment. Roundup is used to kill weeds and other unwanted plants and has quite the perfect record when it comes to just that, killing something. Pesticides have never had a good history with being healthy to the public, the government has had a long history with banning pesticides and other harmful toxins. With all the bureaucracy that goes into toxin bans the removal of pesticides from the market is surprising. Showing that if the government ban’s it then it must be really toxic to the public.

   Round-up is produced by the Monsanto Company which has a long history with both unethical behavior and poor health oversight. Monsanto was known for seeding and growth hormone production before their crown jewel Round-Up was made. Round-Up came on the market in the 1974 and it didn’t become a household weed killer until the late 1990’s. Its introduction was right after the DDT ban and the United States still was in the use of many worse chemicals. As strict pesticide regulations would brought about the popularity of Round-Up surged.

Toxic Crops?

   Now in the modern day Round-Up is still widely used, but evidence has started to emerge about the safety of such a chemical. Round-Up is used widely in agricultural production and even in the use as a desiccate to dry out the crops for a more fertile planting season. This means, Round-Up is used widely in the production of food in the United States, corn being the king crop in most mid-American regions. Monsanto has been found falsifying data on Round-Ups safety. It has been marketed as an environmentally friendly pesticide and Monsanto has pushed to get it used in federal and state parks.

  With all the ethically questionable trouble, Monsanto has gone through the question really presents itself, is Round-Up harmful? The answer is an easy yes. Recently a chemical called Glyphosate which is an active chemical in Round-Up has been found to be a carcinogen. This came as a surprise as Monsanto touts Round-Up as “environmentally friendly” and “biodegradable”. With the widespread use in crops all around the world. The question isn’t “is Round-Up harmful?” but just how Round-Up will affect us in the future, and if it isn’t banned quickly could it have a massive effect on the public health of the future? 

Noah Swart

Blog Topic

Nuclear Run-off

Mr. Moss

Abandoned Chernobyl

   Nuclear reactors are always a big controversial topic, most people are not properly informed about Nuclear Power. To most name nuclear is almost never a positive term. Factors like these are what lead to calls for the removal of nuclear energy when a big reactor meltdown happens. These melt downs can expose millions to nuclear radioactive chemicals and can destroy the wildlife. Health effects of a nuclear meltdown can last tens of thousands of years and completely ruin parts of land for both humans and all living things.

Fukushima Disaster

   There are different forms of nuclear meltdowns, the cases themselves can vary on the severity of the problem. These meltdowns can be due to oversights such as the case of Chernobyl or due to natural disasters in the case of Fukushima. The effect of a meltdown usually occurs when nuclear waste is leaked through water systems and in the air. In Chernobyl it’s said that the nuclear fallout had such a wide range of land exposure that the true effects can’t be determined without more technological advancement.

   Humans who are exposed to the direct nuclear exposure, such as workers on the plant in the time of a meltdown or the people who live nearby in a town can experience radiation sickness. Those with large amounts of exposure can expect to experience Acute Radiation Syndrome which changes the natural process of human cells and molecules, usually resulting in vomiting, coma and eventually death. Humans and animals exposed to radiation sickness can experience birth mutations, and possibly miscarriages.

Radiation has huge effects on the environment, changing birth patterns in animals, destroying plant life and leaking into water streams which can carry these effects thousands of miles downstream. One effect of radiation on plant life is that it causes the plant life to go in a sort of self-defense mode which can be DNA replication and stress responses to cell death. One of the biggest problems with Ionizing Radiation is we don’t know the full effects it can have, and as more disasters happen we learn more and more about the dangers of nuclear reactors. 

Blog entry 6

Zika Virus

Noah Swart

Environmental Health

   The modern world sees its fair share of deadly viruses, just recently the Ebola outbreak in Southern Africa left the world wondering how it would leave its mark. As public fear of the disease reaches its height the disease usually starts to die down, from either public health efforts or its inability to spread fast enough before the host’s death. The Zika virus isn’t deadly or even all that harmful to most normal health people, but the reason it’s getting such news traction and public health awareness is because of its unique effect on the unborn fetus.

Effects of Microcephaly 

travel

   The Zika virus has been linked to birth defects in the fetuses of affected women that become pregnant or are pregnant when exposed to the virus. The babies are born with an undersized head and an underdeveloped brain, this defect is referred to as Microcephaly. This link was first noticed in Brazil this May and has since been spreading through a unique mosquito population that’s already infamous for its ability to carry the west Nile virus. Now the Worldwide Health Organization has been struggling to figure out how to prevent and control the outbreaks.

   Health organizations all around have pinpointed the spread to that of bugs, mostly mosquito's around the world. This would explain why it hasn’t spread widely into North America as it’s currently in the winter seasons and mosquito's can’t survive through the harsh cold weather.  Drastic measures have already been taken in South American countries such as the use of large mosquito pesticides to kill off the large brooding population.

  The most effective way to stop the spread is to simply inform the population about the dangers and how to protect themselves from getting infected in the first place. Secondly, it’s important to make sure those that have already been exposed to the Zika virus have gone through the stages of sickness and don’t have any of the virus still lingering in them. This is to be sure that it cannot spread to family members or friends. Flights in and out of affected countries are monitored to prevent a large scale spread via travel. These are all simple but effective methods health organizations use to prevent and control the spread.