biology

Toxic tort

Toxic tort is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Toxic tort rather than just read about it. In short: A toxic tort claim is a specific type of personal injury lawsuit in which the plaintiff claims that exposure to a chemical or dangerous substance caused the plaintiff's injury or disease. Place of exposure People may be exposed to toxic chemicals or similar dangerous substances from pharmaceutical products, consumer products, the environment, or in the home or at work.

Key takeaways

Toxic tort belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Toxic tort to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Toxic tort from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A toxic tort claim is a specific type of personal injury lawsuit in which the plaintiff claims that exposure to a chemical or dangerous substance caused the plaintiff's injury or disease.

Place of exposure People may be exposed to toxic chemicals or similar dangerous substances from pharmaceutical products, consumer products, the environment, or in the home or at work. Many toxic tort cases arise either from the use of medications, or through exposure at work.

Occupational exposure There have also been many occupational toxic tort cases, because industrial and other workers are often chronically exposed to toxic chemicals - more so than consumers and residents. Thousands of toxic chemicals are used in industry and workers in these areas can experience a variety of toxic injuries. Unlike the general population, which is exposed to trace amounts of thousands of different chemicals in the environment, industrial workers may be regularly exposed to much higher levels of chemicals and therefore have a greater risk of developing disease from particular chemical exposures than the general population. An occupational toxic injury case may result in a workers' compensation claim, which is made against the worker's employer. The same injury can potentially support a toxic tort case against "third parties", that is, people or entities other than the employer, such as manufacturers or distributors of chemicals, substances or equipment that exposed the worker to the chemicals, or the people or entities in control of the premises where the worker was exposed to the toxic chemicals.

Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceutical injuries can occur when a person is injured by a dangerous, defective or contaminated medication. Many pharmaceutical toxic injury cases are mass tort cases, as most medications are consumed by thousands of people. The cases are often litigated against drug manufacturers and distributors, and potentially against prescribing physicians. When prosecuted against drug manufacturers and distributors, pharmaceutical toxic tort cases differ from medical malpractice suits in that pharmaceutical toxic tort cases are essentially product liability cases, the defective product being the drug.

Injury at home The home has recently become the subject of toxic tort litigation, due to exposure to mold contamination, construction materials such as wood or carpeting treated with formaldehyde, and pesticides, and lead paint. Some imported consumer items, such as toys and ceramics, may be produced with dangerously high levels of lead.

Environmental exposure People may also be injured from environmental toxins in the air or in drinking water.

Common chemicals in toxic tort cases When a toxic tort case is based on chemical exposure, the following chemicals may be involved:

Nerve agents (including sarin) Mercury Asbestos Benzene Beryllium Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds / Agent Orange Manganese Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) Pesticides Silica Hexavalent chromium Chromium(III) oxide

Common diseases in toxic tort cases Among the medical conditions that may be alleged to be caused by exposure to a toxic substance, the following may be claimed in toxic tort cases.

Aplastic anemia Asbestosis Berylliosis Byssinosis Hodgkins disease Interstitial lung disease Leukemia Lymphoma Manganism Mesothelioma Multiple myeloma Pneumoconiosis Sarcoidosis Silicosis Thrombocytopenic purpura

See also Brownfields Carcinogens Erin Brockovich Groundwater remediation Respirator Toxicity

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Toxic tort

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Toxic tort claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Toxic tort before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Toxic tort ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Toxic tort

In research: Toxic tort appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Toxic tort in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Toxic tort is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Occupational diseases, Tort law, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Toxic tort outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Toxic tort in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Toxic tort means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Toxic tort out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Toxic tort in simple terms?

A toxic tort claim is a specific type of personal injury lawsuit in which the plaintiff claims that exposure to a chemical or dangerous substance caused the plaintiff's injury or disease. Place of exposure People may be exposed to toxic chemicals or similar dangerous substances from pharmaceutical…

Why does Toxic tort matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Toxic tort?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Toxic tort.