Toxicology historical development

The kinds of information described here are found on three types of PC media floppy, CD-ROM, and laser disks. The products run the gamut of allowing one to assess current developments on a weekly basis, as well as to carry out more traditional reviews of historical information. The general types of information one can cover include basic pharmacology, preclinical toxicology, competitive products, and clinical safety. 

The area of occupational toxicology has received a great deal of attention in the chemical industry. Historically, the chemical industry has focused on the occupational environment and developed many of our current toxicological methods to address health and safety concerns. However, since the mid-1970s the chemical industry has increasingly become subject to testing requirements relevant to the protection of the environment and the public at large, as mandated by Environmental... 

An estimate for the lowest level of toxicological concern for human exposure to a chemical is developed by dividing the appropriate NOAEL by the uncertainty factor. Historically, this estimate has been termed the acceptable daily intake (or ADI) although it has been replaced by what EPA calls the reference dose (or RfD). Both ADIs and RfDs are expressed in terms of the amount of chemical exposure per amount of body weight per day. 

The conduct of toxicology studies in laboratory animals has been driven by experience, historical precedence, and governmental requirements, and the results of these studies usually, and reasonably, have led to restrictions on the use, or method of use, of the chemicals concerned [1], The primary objective of pharmaceutical preclinical safety evaluation is to provide information essential for the initiation of clinical trials. Scientific rationale and controlled reproducible data are used to show that the initial human risk is so low as to be ethically and practically acceptable in relation to the medical value of the information to be obtained from humans. Preclinical safety studies performed throughout the course of product development facilitate and may guide work... 

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