Dr. Philip N. Smith
Nov 2, 2022
Department of Environmental Toxicology doctoral candidate Amanda Emert's first first-author paper has been accepted for publication in Environmental Pollution (Elsevier, I.F. 9.988).
Coauthors include Frank Green, Dr. Seeni Subbiah, and Amanda's co-advisors Dr. Kerry Griffis-Kyle (Department of Natural Resources Management, TTU) and Dr. Phil Smith.
Amanda's work, which examines aerial transport of feedyard-derived pesticides, deposition into wetlands, and associated risk, is also featured in a story originally published by The New Lede.
Ecotoxicology and Risk Assessment – The Phil Smith Lab examines aerial transport of pharmaceuticals and pesticides and resulting ecosystem, pollinator, and wildlife effects.
Dec 14, 2020
SETAC Globe used a point of reference article by Dr. Phil Smith recently published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
The Meat of the Matter: Environmental Dissemination of Beef Cattle Agrochemicals14 January 2021|Categories: 2021, Science and Publications, Volume 22 Issue 1
A recent Point of Reference, “The meat of the matter: Environmental dissemination of beef cattle agrochemicals,” published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry addresses synthetic chemical cocktails being emitted from cattle feed yards into the environment and how they can impact our ecosystem and our health.
Industrial meat production facilities have a bad reputation for their impact on the environment. Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are known to release greenhouse gases related to global warming and for discharge of manure to watersheds, which affects water quality. A less publicized impact of modern beef production is the excessive use of pharmaceuticals and pesticides, which end up in the environment. The animal production agriculture sector holds the record as the single greatest consumer of antimicrobials. Dust from feed yards typically contains antibiotics, synthetic steroids (growth hormones) and pesticides. At a time when honeybee population decline is a hot topic, it is curious that the dust emitted each day from feed yards in the U.S. alone theoretically contains enough permethrin to kill more than a billion honeybees per day.
Nov 2, 2020
The Fog | IEAM Blog
The following post is one of a series previewing the research that will be presented at the SETAC North America 41st Annual Meeting (SciCon2), 15–19 November 2020.
A guest post by Eric Peterson, Texas Tech University
Imagine driving down a country road on a clear, beautiful summer evening, when you see what looks like fog across the road in front of you. As you drive closer and closer, your car becomes engulfed, and you can no longer see the telephone poles in front of you. After a few hundred meters or so of this “fog,” you emerge on the other side, and it is once again clear. While it may sound like a scene out of the Stephen King novel The Mist, and more of a science fiction scenario, it is actually a phenomenon that occurs on a nightly basis all across the High Plains of the United States of America (US). The true culprit of this “fog” is actually dust emanating from beef cattle feed yards on a nightly basis.