URL study guide
https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/AM_1259Course Objective
Objectives• To evaluate key environmental pollutants, their sources, properties, distribution and fate in the environment.
• To demonstrate quantitative information on the effects of pollutants on ecological and human health.
• To demonstrate how environmental risks of pollutants are assessed.
• To relate the concept of systems thinking, and its application to studying and understanding environmental pollution problems.
• To describe the key principles of environmental science that underpin both the assessment and governance of plastic and chemical pollution.
• Formulate the environmental risk of a chemical pollutant in a report and an oral presentation. Contents This course provides an introduction to environmental chemistry and (eco)toxicology of plastic and chemical environmental pollution, one of the hallmarks of the hotly-debated ‘Anthropocene’, the human-dominated epoch. Is this environmental pollution just a global bundle of bad news, or can/does science and society adequately respond? If you are interested in learning about plastic pollution and other hot chemical pollution topics this course is for you.
Course Content
Topics include:• Sources and emissions and spatial transport of plastic and chemical pollution
• Properties affecting transport and bioaccumulation of plastic and chemical pollutants
• Bioaccumulation and biotransformation in living organisms
• Ecotoxicology and human toxicology of selected plastic and chemical pollutants
• Risk assessment of plastic and chemical pollutants
• Systems thinking in environmental chemistry and one world chemistry
• Societal and policy responses to address pollution Plastic and chemical pollution is dispersed throughout our environment, including food chains and human bodies, making it a problem of global proportions. But a solvable problem. It may be surprising but most of the >100,000 chemicals synthesized in the past 70 years have not undergone rigorous safety testing before entering the marketplace, and many of these are high-production volume chemicals, including polymers. Approximately 80% of today’s chemicals sector produces plastic and polymers. Past lessons with pollutants like dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) showed us that chemicals with economic and societal benefits can have long-lasting serious negative consequences for public health, ecosystems, as well as the economy. After decades of research on an often chemical-by-chemical basis, science has been revealing how certain chemicals act as developmental neurotoxicants, endocrine disruptors, genotoxicants or immunotoxicants. And this knowledge is powerful. Such research is instrumental in evidence-based, risk-based policymaking that phased out many persistent organic pollutants to date. Cutting-edge analytical environmental chemistry is critical for first signaling and then quantifying ‘emerging’ pollutants in the environment, such as microplastics, endocrine disrupting chemicals (incl. plastic additive chemicals), perfluorinated chemicals, chlorinated paraffins, etc. Without analytical data, there’s no story to tell. Understanding the toxicity of the chemicals to humans and ecosystems gives meaning to the exposure concentrations measured in the field and laboratory. These data are essential input to environmental and human health risk assessments, policy-making and legislation, and design choices during manufacturing (e.g. green chemistry substitutions and functional alternatives). The societal and policy responses pave the way for elimination of pollution sources and the stimulation of innovations that act to prevent pollution, improving the quality of the living environment for all. This course may stimulate you to think about whether or not we currently are using our best science in creating the chemical-material world in which we are living.
Teaching Methods
Teaching method• Lectures
• Seminars
• Presentation
• Self-study
• Working on a written project
• Supervision/feedback
Method of Assessment
The final grade is calculated from the grade of the exam (60%), assignment report (30%), and oral presentation (10%). The minimum grade for the exam has to be 5.0 and if resubmission of the report is needed a maximum grade of 6.0 will be assigned.Literature
“Environmental toxicology, an open online textbook” Other: Additional material available on the Canvas site.Target Audience
Is part of/may be part of/is open to students of• MSc Ecology (elective)
• MSc Hydrology (elective)
• MSc Earth Sciences – track Global Environmental Change and Policy (elective)
• Earth Sciences’ Earth & Climate stream (elective)
• MSc Biomedical Sciences (elective)
• MSc Chemistry (elective)
Additional Information
Attendance at lectures is highly recommended and is mandatory for the presentations. The course is given at the VU. The first 4 weeks of the course will cover most of the new material, the second half of the course will be more focused on assignment, readings, a symposium for presentations of the assignment work, and finally the exam. Ecology students may complete work on assignment in the first four weeks, with only their presentation and exam in the second half of the course schedule.Entry Requirements
BSc degree in either hydrology, ecology, environmental sciences, chemistry, biomedical sciences, or public health. If you have already followed the BSc Analytical and Environmental Chemistry (AEC) course (51128ANM6Y) then be aware that there can be overlap between some of the lectures given in this course.Recommended background knowledge
BSc degree in either hydrology, ecology, environmental sciences, chemistry, biomedical sciences, or public health. If you have already followed the BSc Analytical and Environmental Chemistry (AEC) course (51128ANM6Y) then be aware that there can be overlap between some of the lectures given in this course.Language of Tuition
- English
Study type
- Master