Philip N. Smith, PhD

Research

Air Issues
Current large-scale beef production operations in the United States concentrate large numbers of cattle onto feedlots prior to slaughter. Industrial scale beef cattle production is made possible by use of growth promoters (steroids and antibiotics) and pest control chemicals. As a result, these agrichemicals enter the environment via dust. Our research addresses the question, “Do agrichemicals transported from feedlots by wind result in adverse ecological or human health effects?”

Persistent Organic Pollutant Exposure Issues

Also of particular research interest to Dr. Smith is exposure of pets and wildlife to persistent organic pollutants (POPs), other industrial chemicals, and the role these chemicals may play animal fitness, survival, and reproduction.

Past Research

A great deal of Dr. Smith’s past research was focused on the ecological effects of compounds used for military-related purposes like perchlorate, RDX, and HMX. In its various salt formulations (i.e., sodium perchlorate, ammonium perchlorate, etc.), perchlorate is used as an oxidizer and makes up a high percentage of the total weight of various solid rocket formulations and can also be found in flairs, pyrotechnics, and even air-bags. In the environment, perchlorate is an extremely water soluble anion that can persist for decades. It is readily taken up by plants, and can alter thyroid hormone concentrations in exposed humans and wildlife. HMX is an explosive formulation that is commonly found and military training sites across the country.

Dr. Smith has conducted research related to perchlorate and explosives. That work was funded by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and others. Much of the perchlorate research is included in a book entitled Perchlorate Ecotoxicology that Dr. Smith published in 2006. Additionally, Dr. Smith has conducted research to examine the energetic costs of various anthropogenic and natural stressors in macroinvertebrates and aquatic vertebrates inhabiting playa lakes in the Southern Great Plains.

Other projects are described below:

2016 Determination of LOAEL for Perchlorate-Exposed Native Amphibians

2014 Texas Radon Exposure Reduction

2014 Third Party Verification of Texas Conservation Plan – Dunes Sagebrush Lizard

2012 Next-Gen Sequencing Enhancement

2011 Acquisition of a Field Spectroscopy Environmental Analysis System for Gulf Oil Spill Research

2010 Growth Promoters, Wind, and Human/Ecological Health

2009 Assessment of Airborne Anabolic Hormones from Confined Animal Feeding Operations

2008 Effects of Perchlorate in Waters from NWIRP, McGregor on a Native Amphibian Species

2008 Assessment of Airborne Anabolic Hormones from Confined Animal Feeding Operations

2007 Ecological Risk Assessment of Mercury in the Caddo Lake Watershed

Effects of PAHs on Avian Species, and HMX Exposure in a Hind-gut Fermenting Species, the Prairie vole

2006 Playa Wetland Environmental Stress Effects on Indigenous Fairy Shrimps

2006 Bioavailability and Avoidance of HMX in a Terrestrial Amphibian

Evaluating Metabolic Induction and Reproductive Toxicity of TNT in Peromyscus maniculatus

2005 Bioavailability and Avoidance of HMX in a Terrestrial Amphibian

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Evaluating Metabolic Induction and Reproductive Toxicity of TNT in Peromyscus maniculatus

2004 Acute effects of the explosive compound HMX on avian and reptilian species

Reproductive toxicity of HMX in birds and reptiles

2003 Effects of perchlorate on metabolic rates in endothermic organisms

Effects of perchlorate on Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa)

Immunotoxicological responses of amphibians exposed to perchlorate

Bosque and Leon River Watershed Study; Terrestrial ecotoxicology of perchlorate in the Lake Waco and Lake Belton watershed

Evaluating exposure and effects of perchlorate on mammalian (including cattle), avian, and reptilian wildlife species2002

2002 Perchlorate accumulation and toxicity from consumption of food crops grown with contaminated irrigation water

2001 Raccoons as a sentinel of environmental perchlorate contamination

Development and evaluation methods to accurately determine avian habitat use and habitat-specific behaviors in agricultural systems

1997 Raccoons (Procyon lotor) as sentinels for polychlorinated biphenyl and heavy metal exposure and effects at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, McCracken County, KY

1996 Rodents as biomonitors of PCB and metal contamination at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, McCracken County, KY

The Smith Lab is grateful to have received funding from the following agencies:

· Texas Tech University College of Arts and Sciences

· USDA

· NSF

· Ensafe, Inc.

· Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program

· Texas Tech University Research Enrichment Fund

· Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program

· US Corps of Engineers

· Caddo Lake Institute

· US Environmental Protection Agency

· Bechtel Jacobs, Inc.

· Martin Energy systems, Inc.

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