Environmental Toxins
In Chemistry we researched specific chemicals responsible for environmental disasters of our choosing. For my assignment, I researched 2,3,7,8 TCDD or Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-Dioxin. This is the same material used in Agent Orange, a notoriously hazardous herbicide used during the Vietnam War. In this case TCDD was a chemical byproduct of a chemical plant near Times Beach Missouri. The plant ordered the chemical to be mixed into oil that Times Beach used to spray on their dirt roads. A flood caused the chemical to spread everywhere and caused widespread illness. As a result the CDC ordered an evacuation that was followed by a government buyout of the town. The town was dismantled and buried as a result of the contamination. Times Beach, MO no longer exists, only a state park full of grass and trees.
The Project
Our assignment had changed shortly afterward, we were separated into groups and had to pick one of our topics as a theme for a board game. Instead of using one of our topics, we decided on a new topic that I proposed. We went through with making a board game about the infamous 1986 Chernobyl Disaster. Which is the largest and most widespread nuclear accident to date. Releasing all kinds of radioactive materials including: Cesium 137, Strontium 90, and Iodine 131 into a massive radioactive cloud across Europe. I was tasked with creating an infographic explaining one of the toxins/contaminants. I chose the classic calcium mimic Strontium. Strontium is a common earth element, found as a mineral its perfectly safe. However in very rare cases a specific kind of Strontium is created. The kind of Strontium can only be created after a nuclear accident, or an atomic bomb. Which is why its so dangerous. Your body absorbs Calcium in order to maintain healthy bones. Strontium is very similar to Calcium, and in some cases your body mistakes Strontium for Calcium. This is only dangerous if someone close enough to a nuclear accident ingests radioactive Strontium and stores it in your bones. The Strontium irradiates your bones causing tumors to start forming, this causes cancers in various parts of the body, but is common in the bones or teeth. My infographic was created to tell this information in an interesting way: