The Future of Predictive Safety Evaluation: In Two Volumes Volume 1

A. N. WORDEN, D. V. PARKE AND J. MARKS THE BACKGROUND There is nothing new about the fact that chemical substances derived either from natural products or by synthetic means .. can give rise to toxicity in animals and human beings, and that they must be subjected to controls. The earliest writings speak of such toxicity and, from the times of ancient Egypt and in the Old Tes­ tament, controls have existed[l]. In the Middle Ages Paracelsus (1493-1541) noted that "All things are poisons, for ...