ABSTRACT
Toxicology is the science of poisons and has as its focus the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms. Although almost any substance in suf-cient quantities (even water) can be a poison, toxicology focuses primarily on substances that can cause these adverse effects after exposure to relatively small quantities. Knowledge of the relative toxicity of substances is fundamental to all applications of toxicology, from development of a new drug to the modeling of the effects of an environmental pollutant. This chapter describes approaches used by toxicologists to determine the toxicity of a substance. We consider principles of the dose versus response relationship, methods used to evaluate toxicity in laboratory animals, and subsequent statistical analyses for quantitation of toxicity. We also discuss the use of toxicity data in assessing the risks of exposure to potentially hazardous substances.
