Toxicity Testing and the Toxicity Testing and the Current Situation in IRAN

Toxicology is the study of how chemical substances interact with living systems, affecting normal processes, and the use of this information to predict safe exposure levels. The goal of toxicity testing is to insure safety of chemicals (or societally tolerable level of risk) in exposed human populations, although no substance is risk-free. Toxicological testing of new materials, as well as biosafety measurement of existing components, helps us to live safely and to derive benefit from natural and synthetic substances while avoiding toxic substances. Toxicologists are involved in the evaluation of household products, medicines and the effects of incidental and occupational exposure to natural and manufactured substances. Toxicology also assists us to develop the best management in the event of accidental overexposure. One fundamental tenet of the science of toxicology is that all chemicals can be toxic if administered in special doses. This is mentioned as a famous phrase: “The dose makes the poison”(1). During the industrial processes there is a chance some of product contamination due to unwanted materials. Hence, conduction of routine biosafety investigation by most of food and drug agencies is required. Although in Iran progress in the field of toxicology is noticeable, considering the numerous international publications and organization of several domestic and international scientific conferences, as well as the establishment toxicology research centers, we experience difficulties in the field of industrial regulatory toxicology and animal studies. In the clinical section, we have two professional hospitals and few physicians, which comply with the standard procedures of emergency medicine.