CHAPTER-2

Toxicology

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 Paracelsus, an early investigator of toxicology during the 1500s, stated the
problem:

"All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison. The right
dose differentiates a poison and a remedy.“

There are no harmless substances,

only harmless ways of using substances

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A. the way toxicants enter biological organisms,

B. the way toxicants are eliminated from biological organisms,

C. the effects of toxicants on biological organisms, and

ABC - toxicology
D. methods to prevent or reduce the entry of toxicants into biological
organisms.

industrial hygiene CHAPTER-3

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 Toxicants
A toxicant can be a chemical or physical agent, including dusts, fibers, noise,
and radiation. A good example of a physical agent is asbestos fiber, a
known cause of lung damage and cancer.

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 How Toxicants Enter Biological Organisms
• ingestion: through the mouth into the stomach,

• inhalation: through the mouth or nose into the lungs,

• injection: through cuts into the skin,

• dermal absorption: through skin membrane.

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 Toxicants elimination
• excretion: through the kidneys, liver, lungs, or other organs;

• detoxification: by changing the chemical into something less harmful by

biotransformation;

• storage: in the fatty tissue.

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 Toxicological Studies
• the toxicant: chemical composition and its physical state ?

• the target or test organism: a simple single cell up through

the higher animals ?

• the effect or response to be monitored

• the dose range: depend on the method of delivery ?

• the period of the test: whether long- or short-term effects ?

-acute toxicity or chronic toxicity

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 Dose versus Response

• age,
• sex,
• weight,
• diet,
• general health,
• and other factors

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If several chemicals are involved, the toxicants might interact

Additively: the combined effect is the sum of the individual effects

Synergistically: the combined effect is more than the individual effects

Potentiately: presence of one increases the effect of the other, or

Antagonistically: both counteract each other.

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 PROBLEMS
2-3. A blast produces a peak overpressure of 47,000 N/m2. What fraction of
structures will be damaged by exposure to this overpressure? What fraction
of people exposed will die as a result of lung haemorrhage? What fraction will
have eardrums ruptured? What conclusions about the effects of this blast can
be drawn?
2-18. A group of 100 people is exposed to phosgene in two consecutive
periods as follows: (a) 10 ppm for 30 min and (b) 1 ppm for 300 min.
Determine the expected number of fatalities.
2-19. Determine the duration times, in minutes, that a group of 100 people
can be exposed to 1500 ppm of carbon monoxide to result in (a) 0% fatalities
and (b) 50% fatalities.

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 Suggested reading

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