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Toxicology has been defined as the study of the adverse effects of xenobiotics and thus is a borrowing science that has evolved from ancient poisoners. Modern toxicology goes beyond the study of the adverse effects of exogenous agents to the study of molecular biology, using toxicants as tools. Historically, toxicology formed the basis of therapeutics and experimental medicine. Toxicology in this century (1900 to the present) continues to develop and expand by assimilating knowledge and techniques from most branches of biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics. A recent addition to the field of toxicology (1975 to the present) is the application of the discipline to safety evaluation and risk assessment.
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The contributions and activities of toxicologists are diverse and widespread. In the biomedical area, toxicologists are concerned with mechanisms of action and exposure to chemical agents as a cause of acute and chronic illness. Toxicologists contribute to physiology and pharmacology by using toxic agents to understand physiological phenomena. They are involved in the recognition, identification, and quantification of hazards resulting from occupational exposure to chemicals and the public health aspects of chemicals in air, water, other parts of the environment, foods, and drugs. Traditionally, toxicologists have been intimately involved in the discovery and development of new drugs and pesticides. Toxicologists also participate in the development of standards and regulations designed to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of chemicals. Environmental toxicologists (a relatively new subset of the discipline) have expanded toxicology to study the effects of chemicals in flora and fauna. Molecular toxicologists are studying the mechanisms by which toxicants modulate cell growth and differentiation and cells respond to toxicants at the level of the gene. In all branches of toxicology, scientists explore the mechanisms by which chemicals produce adverse effects in biological systems. Clinical toxicologists develop antidotes and treatment regimes to ameliorate poisonings and xenobiotic injury. Toxicologists carry out some or all of these activities as members of academic, industrial, and governmental organizations. In doing so, they share methodologies for obtaining data about the toxicity of materials and the responsibility for using this information to make reasonable predictions regarding the hazards of the material to people and the environment. These different but complementary activities characterize the discipline of toxicology.
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Toxicology, like medicine, is both a science and an art. The science of toxicology is defined as the observational and data-gathering phase, whereas the art of toxicology consists of the utilization of the data to predict outcomes of exposure in human and animal populations. In most cases, these phases are linked because the facts generated by the science of toxicology are used to develop extrapolations and hypotheses to explain the adverse effects of chemical agents in situations where there is little or no information. ...