Tantargy

Data

Official data in SubjectManager for the following academic year: 2025-2026

Topic

Environmental protection refers to human activities aimed at protecting, preserving, reducing and preventing damage and pollution of the environment and its elements. It is easy to see that environmental protection and the military industry are particularly interrelated. A typical example is the disaster in Bhopal (India, 1984, Madhya Pradesh), which is still considered the biggest industrial disaster to date. But nuclear, military or industrial disasters (Hiroshima and Chernobyl) cannot be ignored either. The herbicides, defoliants, pesticides and repellents that entered the agricultural sector were first developed by the military industry and only later used for peaceful purposes. The aim of the course is to introduce students to an environmentally conscious approach to protecting human life and preserving the human right to a healthy life and nutrition.

Lectures

• 1. Introduction, course description and expectations, emphasis on environmental protection in the 21st century - Benkő András Antal
• 2. Pioneers of radiochemical research, nuclear fission and fusion, atomic bombs and nuclear reactors - Benkő András Antal
• 3. Industrial-scale nuclear disasters, their polluting effects on the living world - Benkő András Antal
• 4. Case study (Chenobyl and Fukushima) - casuistry - Benkő András Antal
• 5. The use of war gases in WW 1st and 2nd, and in the Gulf War, their effects on living organisms - Benkő András Antal
• 6. Mass murder with carbon monoxide and cyanide during World War 2nd - Benkő András Antal
• 7. The use of organophosphates, defoliants, herbicides and pesticides in agriculture, their effects on living organisms and the environment - Benkő András Antal
• 8. The use of chemical weapons on the battlefield - casuistry - Benkő András Antal
• 9. Methyl Isocyanate, Dioxin, and Chromium Trioxide (PGE) Industrial Disasters and Their Environmental Effects - Benkő András Antal
• 10. Union Carbide (UCLI) Disaster in Bhopal; Hoffman la Roche, Disaster in Sevesoban – casuistry - Benkő András Antal
• 11. Red mud disaster, arsenic poisonings and the presence of arsenic-containing wells in Hungary - Benkő András Antal
• 12. Use of biological weapons in warfare, Japanese experiments in China. The search for anthrax biological weapons in Iraq. - Benkő András Antal

Practices

Seminars

Reading material

Obligatory literature

Literature developed by the Department

Lecture ppt.

Notes

Recommended literature

Conditions for acceptance of the semester

none

Mid-term exams

none

Making up for missed classes

none

Exam topics/questions

Group processing and PPT presentation of a scientific paper published in the Journal of Enviromental Toxicology. The maximum number of participants per group is 5. The article to be processed will be handed out by the lecturer in the middle of the semester.

Examiners

• Benkő András Antal
• Kriszta Gábor

Instructor / tutor of practices and seminars