Read the Following Scenario and Answer the Question Below

question 8

Multiple Choice

Read the following scenario and answer the question below.
Mercury is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in minerals and rocks. Release of mercury from natural sources has been relatively constant over time. However, anthropogenic release of mercury has increased significantly in recent years primarily due to increased fossil fuel mining and combustion. Mercury that is released into the air eventually ends up in soils or surface water. Once in water, microbes convert mercury into methyl mercury, which is absorbed quickly and concentrated in the tissues of predatory fish such as shark and swordfish. Large fish typically concentrate more mercury than small fish.
People who eat fish with high methyl mercury concentrations can show tremors, deafness, muscle incoordination, and attention deficits. Pregnant women and children are especially sensitive to methyl mercury's toxic effects. Learning disabilities and developmental delays are common in children who have been exposed to significant levels of methyl mercury.
-Synergistic effects of toxicants _____________.

• A)are greater than the sum of the effects of the components
• B)always involve synthetic toxicants
• C)typically exhibit additive effects of the individual toxicants
• D)have effects of individual toxicants that tend to cancel one another out
• E)are not numerous in the natural environment

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Definitions:

Behavior

The way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially towards others.

Deliberate System

A cognitive system that is rational, slow, and analytical, often contrasted with automatic or instinctual systems.

Quick Feelings

Immediate emotional responses that arise spontaneously from perceptions or thoughts, without deliberate reasoning.

Automatic System

A cognitive processing system that operates quickly, with little or no conscious effort, often in response to environmental stimuli.