An Introduction to Safety Toxicology

Abstract

To simply define the breadth and depth of knowledge that is encompassed by the discipline of toxicology is a very difficult task and is no easier today than since its early inception in ancient times. In 1799 the first formalized attestation of the term “toxicology” (/ˌtɒksɪˈkɒlədʒi/) was made and the term is actually a neoclassical compound word from Neo-Latin that derives from a combination of the forms toxico- + -logy, which in turn originates from the Ancient Greek words τοξικός toxikos, “poisonous”, and λόγος logos, “subject matter” (Merriam-Webster 2023). If the definition of “toxicology” is reviewed in the Merriam-Webster (or equivalent lexicographical reference) dictionary, it is simply defined as the “scientific study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on the living organism”. While this is true and fit for use by the public, the term “toxicology” as a broader definition, and from a medical perspective, can be defined as “a science that studies poisons and their effects, as well as the problems involved (i.e., from a clinical, industrial, or legal problem perspective)”. To a toxicologist, however, these definitions are not incorrect but are not what we, as safety scientists, envisage as our definition of the discipline that we practice as toxicologists. Regardless, we do live the toxicology maxim famously coined by Paracelsus (Theophrastus Phillipus Auroleus Bombastus von Hohenheim) as “Alle Dinge sind Gift und nichts ist ohne Gift; allein die Dosis macht, dass sein Ding kein Gift ist” which translates as “All things are poisonous and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not poisonous” (Ottoboni 1991).