Toxicology

Herbal medicines are a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States with more than 1500 botanicals sold as dietary supplements or ethnic traditional medicines. Herbal dietary supplements are not subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pre-market approval to assure their safety or efficacy. Toxicological research involving laboratory animals is necessary to ensure and enhance human and animal health and protection of the environment. The WHO has recognized the contribution and value of the herbal medicines used by a large segment of world’s population. Toxicology is the study of how chemical substances interact with living systems and affect normal processes, and the use of this information to predict safe exposure levels. Toxicological research and testing helps us to live safely and to derive benefit from natural substances while avoiding harm. 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 helps us develop the best treatments in accidental over exposure. Toxicologists know that no substance is risk-free. Some doses actually have beneficial effects, as we all know from use of medicines. But increasing exposure to most substances will, at some point, cause harmful effects. Substances are considered toxic at that level. For example, digitalis is a plant product that has been used with great benefit to treat heart irregularities, but too large a dose will cause death. Oxygen provides another example of how increasing the dose can turn a safe compound into a toxic one. A. Thangathirupathi, Toxicology studies of plant products

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Last date updated on September, 2024