The dose makes the poison
Encyclopedia
The dose makes the poison, a principle of toxicology
, was first expressed by Paracelsus
. It means that a substance can produce the harmful effect associated with its toxic properties only if it reaches a susceptible biological system within the body in a high enough concentration (dose).
The principle relies on the finding that all chemicals can be toxic if you eat, drink, or absorb too much of it (for example spinach is not dangerous but it could lead to kidney damage if you eat 10 to 20 pounds at a single sitting). "The toxicity of any particular chemical depends on many factors, including the extent to which it enters an individual’s body." This finding provides also the basis for public health standards, which specify maximum acceptable concentrations of various contaminants in food, public drinking water, and the environment.
However, there is no linear relationship and also more to chemical toxicity than the acute effects caused by short-term exposure. Relatively low doses of contaminants in water, food, and environment can already have significant chronic effects if there is a long-term exposure. Also some pollutants, drugs and natural substances don't adhere to this principle and cause different effects at different levels, which can as a result lead to health standards that are too weak.
Generally the effects of different doses can be very different at different chemicals (not only bigger and smaller impacts depending on dose). Very low doses of some compounds can even induce stronger toxic responses than much higher doses as well as as just different impacts.
' School of Public Health in Amherst, MA, USA.
Toxicology
Toxicology is a branch of biology, chemistry, and medicine concerned with the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms...
, was first expressed by Paracelsus
Paracelsus
Paracelsus was a German-Swiss Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist....
. It means that a substance can produce the harmful effect associated with its toxic properties only if it reaches a susceptible biological system within the body in a high enough concentration (dose).
The principle relies on the finding that all chemicals can be toxic if you eat, drink, or absorb too much of it (for example spinach is not dangerous but it could lead to kidney damage if you eat 10 to 20 pounds at a single sitting). "The toxicity of any particular chemical depends on many factors, including the extent to which it enters an individual’s body." This finding provides also the basis for public health standards, which specify maximum acceptable concentrations of various contaminants in food, public drinking water, and the environment.
However, there is no linear relationship and also more to chemical toxicity than the acute effects caused by short-term exposure. Relatively low doses of contaminants in water, food, and environment can already have significant chronic effects if there is a long-term exposure. Also some pollutants, drugs and natural substances don't adhere to this principle and cause different effects at different levels, which can as a result lead to health standards that are too weak.
Generally the effects of different doses can be very different at different chemicals (not only bigger and smaller impacts depending on dose). Very low doses of some compounds can even induce stronger toxic responses than much higher doses as well as as just different impacts.
Toxins and the law
"Regulators must extrapolate results not only from animal toxicity studies, typically from mice and/or rats to humans, but also from the very high doses usually used in animal experiments to the very low doses that are characteristic of human exposure. These two types of extrapolation are steeped in uncertainty," wrote Edward J. Calabrese, Professor of Toxicology at the University of MassachusettsUniversity of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
' School of Public Health in Amherst, MA, USA.