Prevention of toxicity

A Textbook of Modern Toxicology, Third Edition, edited by Ernest Hodgson ISBN 0-471-26508-X Copyright 2004 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

Legislative attempts to write specific regulations into laws usually fail. The resultant laws lack flexibility and, because they are written by lawyers rather than toxicologists, seldom address the problems in a scientifically rigorous manner. 

It should be borne in mind that legislation is a synthesis of science, politics, and public and private pressure. It represents a society s best estimate, at that moment, of the risks it is prepared to take and those it wishes to avoid, as well as the price it is prepared to pay. Such decisions properly include more than science. The task of the toxicologist is to see that the science that is included is accurate and is interpreted logically. 

This section is based primarily on regulations in the United States, not because these are the best but because, in toto, they are the most comprehensive. In many respects they are a complex mixture of overlapping laws and jurisdictions, providing unnecessary work for the legal profession. At the same time few, if any, toxic hazards in the home, workplace, or environment are not addressed. 

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Toxicology The science concerned with the detection, chemical composition, and pharmacologic action of toxic substances or poisons and the treatment and prevention of toxic manifestations. [NIH]... 

Cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide cause urothelial toxicity (haemorrhagic cystitis) which is caused by metabolite acrolein. Mesna reacts with this metabolites in the urinary tract to prevent toxicity and is used in prevention of toxicity to the urinary passage caused by oxazaphosphorins e.g. ifosfamide and cyclophosphamide. 

Farooqui A. A., Ong W. Y., Lu X. R., Halliwell B., and Horrocks L. A. (2001). Neurochemical consequences of kainate-induced toxicity in brain involvement of arachidonic acid release and prevention of toxicity by phospholipase A2 inhibitors. Brain Res. Rev. 38 61-78. 

Other Statutes with Relevance to the Prevention of Toxicity. It should be noted that some of these statutes have been superseded by others, either in whole or in part. 

Approximately 50% of all accidental poisoning fatalities in the United States involve preschool children. Thus prevention of toxicity is particularly important in homes with young children. 

Additional methods for the prevention of toxicity in the workplace include the use of personal safety equipment—protective clothing, gloves, and goggles are the most important. In particularly hazardous operations, closed-circuit air masks, gas masks, and so on, may also be necessary. 

The toxicological significance of pollution of the environment may be work related, as in the case of agricultural workers, or related to the outside environment encountered in daily life. In the case of agricultural workers, numerous precautions are necessary for the prevention of toxicity. For example ... 

One of the most critical areas for the prevention of toxicity caused by environmental contamination is that of disposal of hazardous wastes. It is now apparent that past practices in many industrialized countries have created large numbers of waste sites in which the waste is often unidentified, improperly stored, and leaching into the environment. The task of rectifying these past errors is an enormous one just now being addressed. 

For the safety of pharmaceutical compounds, a great number of in vitro and/or in vivo experiments are being conducted today. Test strategies for toxicological investigations have been refined and the extrapolation of preclinical results to humans improved. The prevention of toxic events in man became the main purpose of preclinical experimentation. 

The product was also compared to Fuller s earth in a pig model. The potency of the RSDL/sponge was statistically better than Fuller s earth against skin injury induced by sulfur mustard, observed 3 days post-exposure. RSDL was more efficient than Fuller s earth in reducing the formation of perinuclear vacuoles and inflammation processes in the epidermis and dermis. The potencies of the RSDL/sponge and Fuller s earth were similar to severe inhibition of plasma cholinesterases induced by VX poisoning. Both systems completely prevented cholinesterase inhibition, which indirectly indicates a prevention of toxic absorption through the skin (Taysse et al, 2007). 

The antagonism or prevention of toxic effects may also benefit from stereochemical principles. Thus, optically active flavanones have been shown to inhibit the metabolic activation of the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene to metabolites that bind covalently to DNA (Chae et al., 1992). Moreover, the (+) enantiomers of 3-0-methyicatechin and catechin have been demonstrated to protect stereoselectively against lipid peroxidation due to paracetamol (Devalia et al., 1982),... 

Toxic Contamination in Large Lakes, Volume IV Prevention of Toxic Contamination in Large Lakes... 

US EPA (1993) RM2 exit briefing on chlorinated paraffins and olefins. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pollution and Prevention of Toxics, Washington, D.C., p 42... 

Hennesey J, von Weizsaecker E (1988) Prevention of toxic contamination of large lakes Managing a large ecosystem for sustainable development. In Schmitdtke NW (ed) Toxic Contamination of Large Lakes, Vol FV, Lewis Publ, Chelsea, Michigan, pp 15-18. 

Prevention of toxic metabolite formation. Antidotes in this class are most active when given shortly after ecposure to the toxicant and before agnifkant metabolic activation has occurr. ... 

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