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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