AP Environmental Science Question of the Day

Mishandled or spoiled food can contain toxins that result in illness and cause vomiting and diarrhea, the body's natural method of expelling said toxins.

Mercury found in industrial waste enters the ocean, where it is absorbed by plankton and subsequently absorbed by fish that eat plankton, and bigger fish that eat the smaller fish. It thus accumulates at the higher trophic levels.

Nuclear fallout from atomic weapon tests conducted in the South Pacific has been found in samples of local coconuts and fish populations, leaving several islands uninhabitable.

Most commercial fruit and vegetable producers spray chemical herbicides, which accumulate in human consumers when we don't wash our produce before eating it.

Up until the 1980s, hunters used lead shot to hunt waterfowl, and the lead was consumed by the waterfowl, accumulating in their tissues and heightening risk of lead poisoning.