ABSTRACT
Occupational physicians are frequently involved in the assessment of health risks associated with exposure to chemicals in the workplace and this responsibility increasingly includes the public environment. Interaction with chemicals in the environment is a necessity for any living organism and human beings are no exception. As a consequence, a range of complex biochemical mechanisms has evolved in humans to protect against absorbed toxic compounds. Whenever there is a risk of exposure to hazardous chemicals, it is important that the factors affecting the absorption and distribution of chemicals in the body, the processes involved in detoxification and elimination and the influence of susceptibility are taken into consideration. An understanding of toxicology (the study of ‘poisons’) is essential for occupational physicians in their role as health risk managers or when investigating the exposure of workers to hazardous chemicals. Toxicology is growing rapidly as a science and demonstrates increasing relevance to the
activities of all healthcare professionals. A range of standard reference texts is now available.1
