Arsenic



** Mohamed Kenneh & Tim Mamrolt ** **Background** Cyanide is very useful in our environment, it is use to made many of our product such as plastic, cigarette, fish etc. Cyanide plays an important role in Human life, it helps human to disinfect their houses from insect, malaria etc. Economically, it helps farmer to grow their plants such as casava, sorghum etc. The role of cyanide in agriculture is to fumigate food from insect. Gaseous cyanide such as hydrogen cyanide are very toxic and harmful. In the environment which is contaminate by the hydrogen cyanide, if people from that place breath the air, it can cause death to many peoples from that can die. Cyanide is also use to remove gold out of a cyanide which is called Cyanidation, below is the equation that explain the process of cyanidation 4 Au + 8 CN- + O2 + 2 H2O = 4 Au(CN)2- + 4 OH-.
 * Cyanide in our environment**

**Citation**
 * 1) Amodedo, C. (2006). Cyanide threat to desert reserve. //Geographical (London, England: 1997)//, //78//(2), 14-15. Retrieved March 16, 2010, from OmniFile Full Text Select database.
 * 2) Cyanide. (n.d.). //Cyanide Chemistry//, Retrieved from http://www.cyanidecode.org/cyanide_chemistry.php
 * 3) Cyanide. (n.d.). //Environmental and Health Effects of Cyanide//, Retrieved from http://www.cyanidecode.org/cyanide_environmental.php
 * 4) []

**Chemical strucuture of cyanide** Cyanide is the combination of one molecule of nitrogen to one molecule of carbon which is related with three chemical bonds. There are many kinds of cyanide, in which it uses in factory to produce nylon and resins. other cyanide contributution to our nature is to herbicide.Cyanide is a negatively charged ion composed of one carbon and one nitrogen atom which has three bonds. Cyanide has a great impact in human body, after it entered in the human, it interrupts the function of the cell body, it might be possible it can some of the cell, which is one reason that prove cyanide is a poison Cyanide is produced in the human body and exhaled in extremely low concentrations with each breath. Cyanide is also on many of our food such as cassava, sorghum etc. It is very harmful that the low amount of cyanide can be highly toxic to human and wildlife.**Cyanide in our environment** Cyanide is very useful in our environment in which, hydrogen cyanide is use to disinfect many our food such as cereals and milled cereal products, seeds, nuts and dried fruit and also tobacco. It also useful for the desinfection and protect us from ants, Mosquitoes, roaches in our houses. Hydrogen cyanide can be gaseous wich is or acqeous state wich is liquid. Both cyanide have different kind of color but it is sometime difficult to smell the odor. **Preparation of Cyanide** A pure cyanide is made off the heating of the ferrocyanide. In order to make a pure cyanide from ferrocyanide, you need to have a ferrocyanide and the sodium carbonate. The role of the sodium carbonate is to purify the cyanide from the ferrocyanide. After the combination of these two chemicals, heat at certain temparature in a steel container. It will take few minutes for these coumpounds to melt to a liquid. Wait until the liquid is colorless and the color of the liquid becames very clear. Let the liquid to rest for a fews minutes so the clear portion which is the cyanide can be transacte from the iron sediment at the bottom. Then the ferrocyanide is broken to iron and pure cyanide. **Produce and release of cyanide to the environment** According to the data recording in the late 1980 and early 1990's,most of the cyanide release to our environment are from the iron, steel mills, and organic chemical factory. The release of the cyanide to the soil seen to getting rid of cyanide wastes to the soil. **Release of cyanide** When the cyanide are release to the environment, they are not liable, they combine with other chemical such as calcium, hydrogen or water. after the chemical combination with one of those inorganic or organic compund, they evaporate to the air to form a microbes, which can be found in oue water, house etc. Those microbes are very harmful. **Human Health Implications** There are many dangerous health problems that come from eating seafood that was fished using cyanide. When cyanide is used to fish it poisons the fish usually killing large numbers of them and it makes the ones that don't die easier to catch. So when you eat the fish that has been poisoned some cyanide still remains in it. Cyanide is also present in cigarets. Cyanide is used a a pesticide on the tobacco and stays on the tobacco when it is in the cigarette so when you inhale you inhale some cyanide. Cyanide is a very dangerous poison that is responsible for the deaths/suicides of many people. Cyanide usually causes death very quickly hence its use in suicides but in very small amount over a large time can cause nerve damage. Cyanide can be found in the air, most of the cyanide found in the air are origianly from the cigaret or the release of material such as plastic. this gas is very dangerous, it block the passage of the oxygen in the human body. it is impossible for a human, to figure if the air is contaminated or not, people should always be aware of place where the air is contaminate

**Environmental/Economic/Political Section**

If cyanide were ban it would not have a detrimental effect on the economy but it would be beneficial to the public. The alternatives to cyanide are the same price if not cheaper, but they may not protect plants as well when it is used as a pesticide. We would still have all the same products but they would be safer(if you can make safer cigarets). The ban would not affect the average American. There would be almost no political ramifications. It will affect the U.S economy little bit, if they ban the production of tobaco in the U.S, most of the dangerous cyanide are found in the cigarette. If the U.S stop importing cigaret from Brazil, it will afect the the brazilian and american economy. The Brazilians pay tariff for the U.S government, in order for them to export cigaret. All those tariffs build the economy of the U.S. In another hand, exporting cigaret is very helpful for the brazilians economy, it increase the percentage of worker. If we ban cyanide in our environment, it will affect the smoker life because most of the smokers will not found any cigarett to smoke. It doesn't only affect the smoker's life but it will affect many plants lives such as casava, sorghum, apple etc. People use cyanide to kill insect from plants, if we ban cyanide many plants will not survive and people will start starving. In the third world countries such as Liberia, 75% of the civilians use casava to make their food (fufu), so the ban of cyanide in our environment will be difficult for poor people.

**Conclusion**

We should not ban cyanide, it has more good impact than bad impact to our environment, It protect us from malaria,malaria is one of the killer disease in the third world countries. If we ban cyanide, how could we disinfect our houses from insect that can cause dangerous disease such as malaria. On the other hand, we should ban product such as cigarette, plastic etc from our society. Those products contains hydrogen cyanide, the hydrogen is very harmful and toxic to our body. During the world war 2 Germany used hydrogen cyanide as a weapon to kill their enemies. Hydrogen cyanide is very toxic and harmful.


 * Abstract **

Cyanide is used in alot of products. It helps protect plants when used as a pesticide and it is used to color plastics and jewelry. All though it there are many advantages to using it, cyanide is very dangerous to humans.

Cyanide is very poisons to humans. For instance people have died from taking an extra-strength tylenol that contained a small amount of cyanide. Cyanide is also used to kill bacteria and disease on surfaces. It is used often to clean houses that are contaminated with malaria.

There are many benefits to using cyanide. Though it can be dangerous to humans it's benefits out weight the consequences of not using it. How ever there are processes that can make using cyanide safer. Laws should be put in place to make sure these processes are followed.

**PSA** media type="custom" key="5667547" align="center"