ABSTRACT
A poison is any substance that when ingested, inhaled, absorbed, applied to, injected into, or developed within the body, in relatively small amounts, may cause damage to body structure or disturbance of function (Fowler 1993). Clinical and diagnostic toxicology utilizes a variety of techniques to determine the role a “poison” has in producing an adverse effect on health, as manifested in disease in an individual, population mortality events, or low recruitment. When toxicologists can make diagnostic and mechanistic links between toxic agents, and gross, histological, biochemical, and molecular markers of exposure, clinicians can use this information to improve surveillance, evaluate adverse health impacts, and consider appropriate preventive or treatment measures. Unfortunately, for many toxicants of concern to marine mammals, we have not made these important linkages. Thus, toxicology, as a multidisciplinary effort, relies on many types of expertise requiring that we frequently refer readers to other sections of this book.
