{"id":8056,"date":"2019-07-18T14:46:24","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T18:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/?page_id=8056"},"modified":"2023-04-19T09:00:06","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T13:00:06","slug":"toxicology-explained","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/public-health-toxicology\/toxicology-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Toxicology Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pl-8056\"  class=\"panel-layout\" ><div id=\"pg-8056-0\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-8056-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-8056-0-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_sow-editor panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"0\" ><div\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tclass=\"so-widget-sow-editor so-widget-sow-editor-base\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t>\n<div class=\"siteorigin-widget-tinymce textwidget\">\n\t<p><b>Toxicology\u00a0<\/b>is the science of determining health risks from exposure to chemicals.\u00a0 Almost any chemical can be harmful depending on the\u00a0<b>dose\u00a0<\/b>(the amount of chemical and amount of time a person is exposed, in addition to how often a person is exposed) and\u00a0<b>route of exposure\u00a0<\/b>(whether the chemical is eaten, breathed in, or touches your skin).\u00a0\u00a0<b>Acute\u00a0<\/b>(short-term) exposure and\u00a0<b>chronic\u00a0<\/b>(long-term) exposures can have different effects on a person\u2019s health.<\/p>\n<h3>The Dose Makes the Poison<\/h3>\n<p>The basic principle of toxicology is that \"the dose makes the poison,\" which is a concept attributed to the 15th-century physician Paracelsus.\u00a0 It is understood that a chemical's effects are <strong>dose-dependent<\/strong>, which means that the <em>effect<\/em> is determined by <em>how much<\/em> a person is exposed to.\u00a0 For example, chemicals that are helpful at low doses can be used as medicines, but at higher doses can be harmful.\u00a0 Toxicologists use information from dose-response studies for a chemical to calculate the dose likely to be safe for people.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>\"All\u00a0<abbr class=\"glossarizer_replaced\">substances<\/abbr>\u00a0are poisons; there is none which is not a\u00a0<abbr class=\"glossarizer_replaced\">poison<\/abbr>. The right\u00a0<abbr class=\"glossarizer_replaced\">dose<\/abbr>\u00a0differentiates a\u00a0<abbr class=\"glossarizer_replaced\">poison<\/abbr>\u00a0and a remedy.\"<\/em><br \/>\n- Paracelsus<\/p>\n<h3>Routes of Exposure<\/h3>\n<p>How a chemical enters into a person's body can make a difference with how much of it is absorbed, and can determine whether or not the exposure will cause harm.\u00a0 <strong>Oral exposure<\/strong> is when something is ingested, usually through food or drink.\u00a0 <strong>Inhalation exposure<\/strong> is when a person breathes something that is in the air.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Dermal exposure<\/strong> happens when something is absorbed through a person's skin.\u00a0 A chemical that is harmful by one route of exposure may not be very harmful at all by another.<\/p>\n<h3>Risk Assessment<\/h3>\n<p>Risk assessors calculate the total\u00a0<strong>exposure dose<\/strong> by adding the amount of chemicals entering your body by all of the potential exposure routes.\u00a0 This information is then compared to the dose determined to be safe based upon dose-response studies.\u00a0 If\u00a0 there is a concern about negative health effects, the risk assessor will make suggestions to help people avoid or reduce exposure. The results of risk assessments carried out by the Public Health Toxicology team can be found on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/public-health-toxicology\/environmental-exposure-assessments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Environmental Exposure Assessments<\/a> page.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toxicology\u00a0is the science of determining health risks from exposure to chemicals.\u00a0 Almost any chemical can be harmful depending on the\u00a0dose\u00a0(the amount of chemical and amount of time a person is exposed, in addition to how often a person is exposed) and\u00a0route of exposure\u00a0(whether the chemical is eaten, breathed in, or touches your skin).\u00a0\u00a0Acute\u00a0(short-term) exposure and\u00a0chronic\u00a0(long-term) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"parent":7976,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8056","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - 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