CHEMISTRY READING COMPREHENSION By Ogbonna Kingsley

B. EMT; MSc. Environmental Engineering

steadily increasing from five million tons in 1940 to more than 100 million tons in the twenty-first century. These products include synthetic plastics, plasticizers, dyes, pesticides, preservatives and pharmaceutical compounds.
Annual production (millions of tons) 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Year 1940 Year 1960 Year 1980 Year 2000

What the heck! Synthetic Organic compounds everywhere

Synthetic Organic pollutants Several decades ago, synthetic organic substances were not common consumer products. Today, artificial substances surround man and have been incorporated into many of the items you use. Synthetic organic chemical compounds are prepared from natural molecules (mostly petroleum products) by means of industrial chemical processes that make them more useful. The shirt or blouse polyester that you may be wearing is made with a synthetic fiber and the plastic buttons and dyes used in your clothing are also synthetic. Floor vinyl tiles or carpets are made of synthetic plastics, as well as material from shoe heels. The analgesic or vitamin tablets that are swallowed contain pharmaceutical or synthetic compounds. Bread for breakfast comes in plastic wrap or the food may contain food additives and synthetic preservatives. It is also likely that the apple you like eating has a small amount of synthetic pesticide that enters the body.

Figure 1: Production of synthetic organic chemical compounds

There are certain special problems of disposal and pollution associated with some synthetic products. Some are resistant to bacterial disintegration in water and soil, and persist in the environment for long. When buried in landfills, some plastics cannot degrade for hundreds or thousands of years. When detergents were first used in the fifties, the synthetic detergent used then did not biodegrade easily. Detergent levels increased dramatically in surface waters, causing serious problems of foams. In 1965 almost all commercial detergent preparations changed in such a way that they contained more biodegradable detergents. Some pesticides and non-biodegradable industrial organic compounds are highly toxic to animals and they have often resulted in the death of fishes, while others caused bad taste and smell of fishes and shellfishes.

How can pollutants affect food chains and ecosystems?

There has been tremendous increase in the amounts of synthetic organic chemicals that are produced each year in the world. As seen in Figure 1, the annual production of synthetics is Human activity creates many harmful pollutants. These build up in the environment when decomposers are unable to break them down. Plants take up these pollutants. The pollutants are then transferred along the food chain until they reach the highest trophic level. Bioaccumulation

CHEMISTRY READING COMPREHENSION By Ogbonna Kingsley

B. EMT; MSc. Environmental Engineering
refers to the gradual build-up of pollutants in living organisms. Biomagnification refers to the process in which pollutants not only accumulate, but also become more concentrated at each trophic level.

Reading Check
1. New Vocabularies. 2. Give examples of synthetic organic compounds and products. 3. What is the difference between bioaccumulation and biomagnification? 4. What are some human-made compounds that bioaccumulate and biomagnify? 5. How can the effects of chemical pollution be reduced?

Organisms at lower trophic levels may be affected by the pollutant, but primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers will be more affected, because levels will build up in their tissues as they consume contaminated food. An example of this is the PCB concentrations in the orcas food web. When orcas consume food contaminated with PCBs, they store some of the PCBs in their blubber. When salmon (their primary food) is not available, orcas use their blubber for energy. This releases PCBs into their system. Pollutants can build up to toxic levels in organisms at the top of the food chain. They can also affect entire ecosystems when keystone species, species that greatly affect ecosystem health or the reproductive abilities of species are harmed.

Activity
6. Produce a poster to be pasted in school illustrating your new knowledge of organic compounds. There is a prize for the group with the BEST POSTER.

How can the effects of chemical pollution be reduced?

Some harmful chemical pollutants can be removed from the environment by bioremediation, a process where microorganisms or plants help clean them up. Reacting contaminants with certain chemicals can also make them less harmful.