ABSTRACT
This chapter sketches some of the toxic responses caused by hazardous chemicals in our body (toxicodynamics). Some representative examples are picked because those mechanisms are particularly important in the safety assessment of pesticides. Toxicity to the nervous system, disruption of the hormonal balance, and induction of cell demise and organ injury are typical examples; cancer is the most feared response. It is explained why benign or malignant tumors are difficult to be attributed to previous exposure to a specific carcinogenic chemical, and why the distinction between DNA-damaging carcinogens and non-genotoxic carcinogens is important.
