Environmental Toxicology

(TOX 301.3)
January 3rd April 3rd, 2008

Instructor: Dr. Som Niyogi

Office:
Department of Biology, Room No. 317
Office hours: 11:00 -12:00 am on Tues & Thursday. Alternatively, students may make
appointments ahead of time by phone or email.
Phone:
966-4453
Email:
som.niyogi@usask.ca
Lecture Time & Venue:
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30 - 9:50 am; Room # 130 Physics
Course Description:
This course will provide a survey of major environmental pollutants, their sources, and
interactions with atmospheric, terrestrial and aquatic environments. Pollutants will also be
discussed regarding exposure of people, animals or other biota, and their dose-response
relationships. Some of the physical and chemical changes induced in the environment by
pollutants, and contaminant fate and transport in the environment will also be discussed.
Objectives:
Provide an overview of major classes of environmental pollutants. The general chemical
properties, sources, mechanisms and effects of toxicity in biota will be discussed for each
class of pollutant.
Discuss bioavailability and abiotic/biotic factors affecting toxicity of pollutants.
Introduce how chemical properties of different contaminants determine their fate and
transport in the environment.
Provide an overview of air, water, and terrestrial pollution.
Discuss the approaches for assessing of toxicant effects at organism, population and
community level.
Discuss a few current issues dealing with global environmental pollution and its
consequences.
Course Outline:
See attached Lecture Schedule
Prerequisites:
Required:
1) BIOL 110.6 2) CHEM 111.3 or CHEM 112.3/115.3
Recommended: One course in basic physiology and TOX 300.3 (General Principles of
Toxicology)

Environmental Toxicology (TOX 301.3)

Format:
The principal instructor of the course is Dr. Som Niyogi (Dept. of Biology). Guest lectures will
be provided by other members of the Universitys Toxicology Group. This course will consist of
two 80 minute lectures per week. There is no laboratory to this course.
Textbooks:
There is no required textbook for this course. The instructor will provide a handout for each
lecture which will be posted on the web [www.usask.ca/biology/niyogi/tox301], except for the
Guest Lectures. The handouts will be available for download in the afternoon on the day before
the respective lecture. Students are advised to bring a printed copy of the handouts to the class for
additional note taking. Students will also be recommended to consult the following books and
websites for supplementary reading, as necessary.
Supplemental texts:

[Available in the Veterinary Medicine library]

Principles of Ecotoxicology. 3rd Edition, 2006. C.H. Walker, S.P.
Hopkin, R.M. Sibly & D.B. Peakall (Eds.), Taylor & Francis, New
York, NY. [On Reserve]
- Environmental Toxicology. 2002. D.A. Wright and P. Welbourn
Cambridge University Press, New York, NY. [On Reserve]
- Introduction to Environmental Toxicology, 3rd Edition, 2003. W.G.
Landis & M.H. Yu. Lewis Publishers, Florida.
- Fundamentals of Ecotoxicology, 2nd Edn. 2003. M.C. Newman &
M.A. Unger, Lewis Publishers, Florida.
-

Useful websites:
-

[for government regulations and information on pollutants]

Health Canadas website contains the Canadian Environmental
Protection Act (CEPA) regulations and detailed reports on specific
priority pollutants at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/exsd/psl1.htm or
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/exsd/psl2.htm. If the pollutant youre
interested in is on the list, a file containing its chemical properties,
known toxicology and regulatory levels will be available there.
Other regulatory information can be found on Environment Canadas
website at http://www.ec.gc.ca/envhome.html.
A searchable database to find toxicology journal articles is free from
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US. Go to
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?TOXLINE and type in
the name of the pollutant you are interested in. Warning you may
have to narrow your search terms in order to retrieve a smaller,
reasonable number of articles to consider looking at (e.g. mercury and
Saskatchewan River fish rather than just mercury).
The NIH also has a Hazardous Substances Database (HSDB) for most
known toxicants that can be accessed from the TOXLINE site above.
Other regulations can be found by using Google or Yahoo searches
with name of toxicant and regulation as search words. Youll have
to pick through the results to find the relevant sites, but World Health
Organization, USA and Canadian regulations can sometimes be found
this way.
2

Environmental Toxicology (TOX 301.3)

Evaluation:
Grades for the class will be based on the following:
Mid-term exam I
Mid-term exam II
Final exam

25%
25%
50%

Academic Honesty:
Students enrolled in this course must follow the Universitys Guidelines for Academic Honesty
(http://www.usask.ca/honesty).

Environmental Toxicology (TOX 301.3)

Lecture Schedule Winter 2008

Lecture #
1

Date
Jan. 3

Jan. 8

Topic
General introduction to environmental toxicology; National and
International regulatory agencies and their roles
Dose-response relationships, Toxicity testing

Jan. 10

Bio-accumulation & Toxicokinetics

Jan. 15

Jan. 17

Major classes of Pollutants: fate and transport, bioavailability, and

modifying factors
Metals and Metalloids: source, mode of action, and toxicity

Jan. 22

Jan. 24

Hydrocarbons and halogenated hydrocarbons: source, mode of

action and toxicity [Guest Lecture]
Pesticides: types, mode of action, and toxicity [Guest Lecture]

Jan. 29

Endocrine Disruptors: source, mode of action, and toxicity

Jan. 31

Radionuclides: source, mode of action, and toxicity

10

Feb. 5

Gaseous pollutants: source, types, and toxicity

11

Feb. 7

Nutrient pollution in natural waters

Feb. 12

Midterm Exam #1

Feb. 14

Toxicology of industrial effluents: an aquatic perspective

Feb. 19,21

Midterm break no classes

13

Feb. 26

14

Feb. 28

15

Mar. 4

Assessment of pollutant effects at organism level: biochemical and

molecular biomarkers
Assessment of pollutant effects at organism level: physiological,
reproductive and behavioral indicators
Assessment of pollutant effects at population and community level

16

Mar. 6

Evolution of resistance to pollution in biota [Guest Lecture]

17

Mar. 11

Ecological Risk Assessment: General Principles and a case study

Mar. 13

Midterm Exam #2

18

Mar. 18

Pollution in the Northern & Arctic Ecosystems

19

Mar. 20

Global Amphibian Decline

20

Mar. 25

Pharmaceuticals in the Environment [Guest Lecture]

21

Mar. 27

Global Warming and Climate Change

22

Apr. 1

Review for final exam

12