Each day we are exposed to a myriad of natural and human-made chemicals in our food, drinking water, air, soil, at home or at the workplace—pesticide residues, food additives, drugs, household products—but how can we gauge the human health risk posed by these chemicals? Should we believe the somber headlines that depict a serious threat for humans and the environment, or should we follow the reassuring voices of others who claim that the angst is totally unfounded?
Why the Dose Matters: Assessing the Health Risk of Exposure to Toxicants uses a rational, science-based approach to explain in plain language that a quantitative view is key for understanding and predicting potentially toxic effects of chemicals.
Key Features
Explains the basics of toxicology in easily understandable terms.
Includes numerous examples.
Clears up common misconceptions and dispels myths.
Provides take-home messages for each chapter.
This book is aimed at interested laypeople. It uses numerous examples to illustrate the basic concepts and ensure that the reader will get a better understanding of why not only the hazard but also the overall exposure will determine whether some chemicals pose a serious risk while others are of little or negligible concern.
Author(s): Urs A. Boelsterli
Publisher: CRC Press
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 252
City: Boca Raton
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Disclaimer
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
About the Author
Chapter 1: Introduction
Part I: The Concepts: Hazard and Exposure
Chapter 2: What Does “Toxic” Mean?
Pegging a Chemical a Priori as Bad?
Of Industrial Toxicants, Plant Toxins, Magic Poisons, and Snake Venoms
Potency
Is It Safe? On Hazard and Risk
Chapter 3: Paracelsus Reloaded: The Dose Concept
From Master of Alchemy to Founder of Toxicology
A Novel Approach
The Dose Makes the Poison
The Dose-Response
The Dose Does Not Always Reach Its Target
Chapter 4: Exposure: The Key Determinant in Risk Assessment
What Does “Exposure” Mean?
Different Ports of Entry
Checkpoint Liver
How Much, How Often, for How Long?
Exposure Determines the Risk
A Ubiquitous Metal
Chapter 5: Natural and Synthetic Chemicals
Why That Chemophobia?
Natural Versus Synthetic
Natural Medicines
Of Natural and Organic Pesticides
High-Hazard Natural Toxins
Chapter 6: What Our Body Does to a Chemical
Toxicokinetics
Cellular Transport Systems for Chemicals
Paraquat—A Hazardous Pesticide That Hijacks a Carrier in the Lung
The Liver as the Major Metabolic Organ
Gut Bacteria—More Than Just Quiet Coresidents
The Kidney as the Major Excretory Organ
Hard-to-Get-Rid-of Chemicals
Chapter 7: What a Chemical Does to Our Body
Toxicodynamics
Targeting Nerve Cell Function
Disrupting the Endocrine System
Cell Death—By Accident or Suicide
Cancer
Chapter 8: Defense Shields
Standing Troops, Reserves, and Help from Outside
Trapping Chemicals Before They Hit
Oxidant Stress, Radicals, and Antioxidants
Stress Is Not Always Bad
Refusing Unwanted Chemicals Admittance to Cells
Antidotes
Chapter 9: Correlation and Causality
Does Drinking from a Plastic Bottle Cause Cardiovascular Disease?
Is a Correlation Enough to Make a Strong Case?
Do Storks Deliver Babies?
Plasticizers and Sex Hormones
The Search for Causality
Can Phthalates Cause Cells to Store Fat?
Part II: The Chemicals
Chapter 10: Pesticides: KillLLers with a License
Insidious Threat or Benefit for Humankind?
Pesticide Basics
Glyphosate: The Commotion
Glyphosate: The Facts
Glyphosate: The Cancer Controversy
Does Glyphosate End Up on Our Food?
Chapter 11: Toxic Food
Ingredients, Additives, and Contaminants
Toxic Fries?
Just My Cup of Tea
Invisible and Unavoidable: A Mold Toxin
Trans Fat
Chapter 12: Dietary SupplPPLements: The More the Better?
Boosting Health with Vitamin Supplements?
Green Tea, Red Wine, and Dark Chocolate
Herbal Supplements
Chapter 13: Significant Chemical Risks: Persistent and Widespread
Chemicals That Don’t Make the Headlines (Anymore)
Arsenic
Mercury
Cadmium
Lead
Benzene
Wood Smoke and Air Pollution
Dioxins
Hazardous Pesticides Revisited
Chapter 14: Drugs
Adverse Drug Reactions
The Opioid Crisis
People Are Different—Individual Susceptibility
Part III: The Risk
Chapter 15: Safety Assessment
Can We Predict and Prevent a Toxic Response?
Drug Development
Translation from Mice to Humans?
Non-Clinical Studies
Clinical Trials
First Exposure
Testing of Agrochemicals
Computer Simulations, Omics, and Organs-on-a-Chip
Chapter 16: Acceptable Limits, Tolerance, and Red Lines
Crossing the Line
How Much Is Considered Safe?
Detection Limits for Chemicals
Tainted Water
Recalibrating the Tolerance Limits
Setting Exposure Limits for Data-Poor Chemicals
Chapter 17: Risk Assessment
Risk Perception
Deadly and Avoidable: Fugu
Risk Assessment
Rodent Cancer Bioassays—How Predictive Are They?
Does Carpet Cleaning Cause Cancer?
Risk Management
Chapter 18: Gauging the Risk Against the Benefit
The Benefit Must Outweigh the Risk
Healthy Eating
A Day at the Beach
Chapter 19: Risk CommMMunication
The Daily Dose of Hazardous Headlines, Toxic Information, and Risky Conclusions
Balancing the Information
Part IV: The Future
Chapter 20: Toxicological ChallLLenges
Chemical Medleys and Data-Poor Chemicals
Nanoparticles and Microplastics
Forever Chemicals
Green Toxicology
Chapter 21: Conclusions and Outlook
Mythbusters
Hazard, Exposure, and Risk Resumed
Appendix 1: Units and Concentrations
Appendix 2: Classification of Human Carcinogens as Defined by Iarc
Glossary and Abbreviations
Suggestions for Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Index
