ABSTRACT

Toxic has become a term used to describe a negative or detrimental impact or eect for subjects that can be far removed from medical, or even biochemical systems, as in toxic assets. For the toxicologist, pathologist, or physician,

toxicity is an expression of damage, direct or indirect, to a living system elicited by a chemical of either endogenous or exogenous origin. We attempt to understand and explain the eects of toxic compounds in terms of their specic biochemical mechanism of action and ultimately the physiological and pathological consequences to the body.