Chapter 18, Problem 13TYU

SCIENCE. TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY Trace amounts of dioxin were prsent in Agent Orange, a defoliant sprayed on Vegetation during the Vietnam War. Animal tests suggest that dioxin can cause birth defects, cancer, liver and thymus damage, and immune system suppression, sometimes leading to death. but the animal tests are equivocal; a hamster is not affected by a dose that can kill a guinea pig. Dioxin acts like a Steroid hormone, entering a cell and binding to a cytoplasmic receptor that then blnds the cell's DNA.

1. (a) Discuss how this mechanism might help explain the vari- ety of dioxin's effects on different body systems and in different animals.
2. (b) Discuss how you might determine whether a type of illness is related to dioxin exposure. Next, discuss how you might determine whether a particular individual became ill as a result of exposure to dioxin. Which would be more difficult to demonstrate? Why?