Abstract

Many people use products during their daily routines, which contain different chemicals and minerals, some of which are harmful. Of the approximate 650,000 different chemicals in use today, only a handful (that are hazardous) have limits assigned (called permissible exposure limits - PEL) that indicates to boundaries of safe exposure. Still, these PEL limits were mostly calculated over 30 years ago. Has nothing changed regarding these chemicals since the 1980s? Don’t we have better and faster scientific methods to test chemicals?

This paper provides some basic information regarding industrial hygiene and identifies and defines key terms and provides some insight on how to read and understand various those terms in relation to human health.

This paper also includes research on four hazardous chemicals. These four chemicals and are asbestos, beryllium, silica, and trichloroethylene.

Regarding the identified hazardous chemicals and minerals, I will discuss various topics of each including history and usage to name a few. Regarding asbestos as an example, asbestos is “A mineral fiber that can pollute air or water and cause cancer or asbestosis when inhaled” (Lee, 1992). There are materials that do not contain asbestos that can be used in its place.

Year Manuscript Completed

Summer 2017

Senior Project Advisor

Ms. Julia Boyd

Degree Awarded

Bachelor of Integrated Studies Degree

Field of Study

Health & Exercise Studies

Document Type

Thesis

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