Toxicology and Risk Assessment: Principles, Methods, and Applications

✍ Scribed by Anna M. Fan, Louis W. Chang

• Publisher: Marcel Dekker, INC.
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 887
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Although the concept of toxicology is ancient, in practice, the field of toxicology was a specialty within the discipline of pharmacology. It was only about 1960 that toxicology began to establish itself as a field in its own right.
Overall, toxicology attempts to define possible adverse effects in humans through laboratory research, or to review and explore in the field observations of certain toxic or adverse effects in humans. These can be quite varied, from the occurrence of poisoning from overdosages of drugs, of alcoholic beverages, or from exposure to certain products at the place of work, or combinations thereof. A major early concern, therefore, was in occupational toxicology.
Humans are entitled to clean water, clean air, and clean foods, and sociable personal interactions make life worth living. The public has to understand the differences between theoretical and predicted risk, or the perceived and the real risk. Unfortunately, the media often seem to emphasize the few cases of criminal activities and play up the low, uncertain risk of disease stemming from exposure to trace amounts of chemicals in the environment. It is important that the public be informed and educated about the major, proved, definitive risks of lifestyle-associated premature killing or maiming diseases.
The current volume illustrates a number of these points with reports on chemicals and mixtures with varied toxic actions, the underlying mechanisms, and, eventually, the quantitative aspects expressed as risk assessment.

✦ Table of Contents