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.

Blog Entry Five

Noah Swart

Environmental Health and Safety

Mr. Moss

Sustainability

  Environmental Sustainability is a pretty self-explanatory title, but it in itself is a very complex. The earth isn’t self-sustaining and a lot of species on the planet use what they need. Humans are the only species on the planet that understand the earth’s sustainability, and are able to accurately measure it. Of course, it took humans a long period of time to actually get to the point of measuring out impact on the planet. We are the largest cause of global warming and Eco destruction all around the planet. The question then begins, what exactly is Environmental Sustainability and how are we able to measure and properly repair and not continue the destruction of our environment.

Triangle of Sustainability

  Environmental Sustainability refers to the sustainability of a certain measurable Eco system. This Eco system can be a small pond or the entire planet’s environment. The sustainability of these places is measured by what’s in them and if the sources of the ecosystem are able to be replenished on their own. If an ecosystem isn’t naturally able to be replenished then its Environmental Sustainability will only be till all its natural resources are used up. Humans can play either a positive or

negative role in environmental sustainability. If humans plant more trees or keep river systems cleaner that can elongate the sustainability of the area. If in the case of the rain-forest, humans cut down trees at a rate that newer trees cannot grow back in time then the sustainability is dramatically decreased.

  As for the Earth’s Environmental Sustainability, that can be a lot trickier to measure. We have to take into account how quickly all the natural resources of the planet are being used up and why. Along with this we have to understand what natural resources mean more to the Earth as a whole. We know that we need oxygen to breath and that trees are of great importance to this sustainability. With this knowledge we have set environmental standards for how many trees are allowed to be cut down in certain areas, and if certain logging efforts could potentially damage an important ecosystem then certain steps are made to prevent that logging of the area.

  Environmental Sustainability, itself, is a very complicated field that requires a lot of knowledge of particular and wide range ecosystems.  This factor leads to a lot of confusion in the overall sustainability of the Earth, some believe we are eventually doomed to fail as a planet while others see the planet as a perfectly pristine natural resource that belongs to humans as free use. Both of these conceptions of the planet are of course wrong, and the planets sustainability is fully within our reaches. The only problem is that society as a whole is either unwilling or unknowingly allowing the destruction of our planet to continue unchecked.

Noah Swart

Blog Topic 4

Stress and how we deal with it

Environmental Health and safety

Stress in itself is seen in many different ways by each person and cultures. Some societies even see stress as an indicator of a hard worker. This social standard causes a problem however, as stress is not good for the body. Although, to be able to treat and assist in stress relief we first need to be able to location the stress indicator and what one can do to relieve this indicator. It can be as easy as changing your perspective on life or where you fit in life. However, it can be as difficult as someone you’re close with who can cause your stress. This means that you have to find a way to cope successfully with this stress, or manage in it such a way that your stress won’t effect you later in life.

There are multiple methods to successfully dealing with stress

The feeling of stress

, but a lot rely on the individual to understand when they are stressed and why. One key way to relieving stress is to participate in physical activities, working your body without putting physical stress on yourself can greatly reduce your stress levels. You can even mix two stress relievers in one, by conjoining in physical activates and social activities at the same time can greatly help. Of course, you can always work your way around life avoiding stress, but it does find its way to sneak up on you, without even seeing stressful, until the time hits. By altering your situation in life you can turn a stressful environment into something more positive. Such as just expressing your inner feelings to those around you instead of portraying yourself in a way different then you are. Even just managing your time better can create an effect in life. One example is to complete your assignments ahead of time instead of the day before.

Even if altering your situation doesn’t work you can just do what mammals were programmed to do, adapt. Look at the big picture in life and see that what you stress about has a small effect in the long run of your life. Just change your standards on what makes you happy and enjoy yourself, make time for the small things and you’ll see a drastic change. The last and most important way to reduce stress is simple, just accept who you are and what life itself is. You can see the world as the largest complicated mess or a small existence in a vast expansion of space that doesn’t worry about the troubles of everyday life.

Just Relax 

Society is so good at finding the indicators for stress because society itself causes stress. Who and how we interact with each other can and will change how our bodies perform in the future. Everyone will always tell you that stress is a state of mind, but it’s a state of mind that can damage the individual who isn’t able to control and rid their minds of all the stressful thoughts. Be mindful of how your body works and you’ll be able to find a peaceful place. 

Blog Topic 3

Noah Swart

Environmental Health

Mr. Moss

    The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, has a large list of information regarding all topics of public health. With this website I found an article regarding the use of pesticides

in our environment. This article described the full names of commonly used chemicals and what they’re used for. It also explained the exposure of certain types of pesticides and how the most dangerous pesticides for both the environment and people are the ones used on crops and farm fields to eradicate insects and other unsavory critters.

Spraying

   I found the article, both interesting and informative, as I was not always aware of the wide variety of chemicals that are being used in our day to day environment. I also had little to no knowledge of the names each chemical was under, and how depending on the name it can make it more or less dangerous. I found the article to have an unbiased tone, with neither an opinion on if the topic at hand is good for the environment and people or not. I personally believe that pesticides are overall bad for the environment regardless of the small benefit that it gives to people. I know that pesticides are not always regulated properly and can run off into streams or other wildlife sanctuaries. Regardless, it’s nice for the article to be all about the fact of the matter as opposed to the author’s personal opinion.

Run off

   The article was written with enough enticement that it lead me to expand my knowledge more on the topic. Its credibility of all articles listed pretty firmly throughout the website I had no feeling that the article was leading me misinformation. Overall, the article was to the point and helpful, it lead me to get a better understanding for what we put in our food, rivers, grass, and even our bodies. I hope that more people are able to find the website and get the understanding I did from these few crucial paragraphs.

   

Blog entry #2

Noah Swart

EH – 2000

Blog Topic – American Association/annual report

  Poison control centers are something almost everyone has seen at least once on a warning label. Of course, unlike the widely known emergency numbers like 911 but when time comes nobody can remember the number for the poison control. Just by calling 1-800-222-1222 you can have access to both information regarding all forms of poisons, but also access to statistics, emergency poison help and up and coming research on the daily toxic leaks.

The dangers

  Poison is normally portrayed as something that rarely happens and only does if it is an intentional criminal act. The reality is that poisonings happen all the time, and unintentional poisoning is the most common form. Inside the website of the American Association of Poison Control the current annual report is listed. This report lists the annual report for poison control centers. When it comes to the average age of who ingests the most poisons/toxins it is made up largely by children, the age of six and under precisely 47.7%. This may be surprising to a few people but the fact of the matter is that young children don’t have the ability to question what they put in their mouths. Even more so in the instance of children three or under who make up 35.6% of poison cases, this is due to the fact that young children lack the senses needed to learn an object through touch. With their mouths they are able to feel the object and learn its capabilities.

AAPCC 

  How do people, and mostly small children manage to get these toxins/poisons in their bodies? Well 79.4% of poison exposures are unintentional, with 53.8% being overall unintentional acts, 12.6% being therapeutic errors, and 5.8% being unintentional misuse. Realistically the fear some hold of being poisoned is just a fear and never holds a huge merit. Of course, this doesn’t apply for the chance that a mistake of someone else’s could be what gets you poisoned.

  With the idea that babies’ major routes of exposures are indeed their mouths, as they are always putting things in their mouths one wouldn’t be all that surprised that the most common route of exposure is ingestion 83.7% normally and with fatality rates of 81.4%. This is due to a few reasons, one a lot of poisons are easy to ingest, are commonly in liquid form, and because our skin has a built in protection for what it absorbs into our bodies. The second largest rate for exposure fatalities is inhalation coming in at 10.1%, which itself is also very realistic. We are of course constantly breathing and sometimes not even the nose can pick up toxic poisonous gases. The third greatest route of exposure is unknown 7.8% because a lot of the time tracking the type of poison and process of ingestion can be difficult.

 These statistics change every year, and that’s why the American Association of Poison and Control does well to monitor and research how the overall percentage of poison/toxin deaths can be diminished in our society. This should also apply to the person, as everyone should be vigilant about what they put into their bodies, either It be a soft drink or the typical work day hazardous gasses that one may run into, or simply just what your baby manages to get in mouth distance. Any of these methods can decrease the rate at which one becomes ill.

Blog Entry one – Heuristic

Noah Swart

EH – 2000

The Thought Process

Heuristic is an approach to a problem or a learning situation or something that is discovered that needs a new approach to be understood. Heuristic employs a practical method to solve something, the heuristic method however isn’t always the most logical way nor is it optimal. Due to the way heuristic method presents themselves this can lead to a bias. Although, is not always prevalent in heuristic problem solving. This bias can still show itself quite often, an example would be educated guessing. Educated guessing is the process of taking a multiple choice question and breaking it down realistically using the common knowledge that is known to the user.

How does this present a bias? When the user is basing his answer off of an answer or question that has been presented to him before, and how is the user to know if that question was right or if he absorbed the wrong form of the answer. Another example, would be using common sense to solve a problem, this of course doesn’t have a huge amount of bias structured into it but some can still be prevalent.

The term using common sense refers to looking at the problem or situation from a situational stand point. You think about how the normal person would behave or how a perfectly logical person would handle the situation and you go from there. Heuristics in its most basic form is just a simple thought process that leads us to make the simple decisions we do. People rely on how easy it is to making a decision without stressing the brain to think through the process.

Stressing 

 However, there are two types of heuristic problem solving, those being availability heuristics and representative heuristics. Availability heuristics is the process of making a decision based on your already base knowledge, the example of educated guessing is an availability heuristics because you’ll bring up past problems or events that remind you of the problem and critically analyze how to solve it. Meanwhile, representative heuristics is the process of looking at the average or stereotype of something and comparing it to the problem you have now.

Heuristics is just a basic process of the human brain, however it can be seen as something of a short cut like most short cuts it isn’t foolproof. As we use heuristics in our daily lives we must also look through and be able to spot the signs of bias and logical faults in our constant problematic situations.