The Neighborhood Toxicologist: Happy to be back! And with new Book in tow!!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Happy to be back! And with new Book in tow!!

It has been quite a while (apologies to those who left comments over the past 3 years...when Google took over, I couldn't figure out how to get in!) Just tried again after getting on the forum and am happy to have control of my blog back.

Anyway, in the meantime, I have been continuing to think about evolution and toxicology and what that means for us. It's a big deal. Evolution is relevant in our everyday lives (just think about antibiotic resistance; pesticide and herbicide resistance which even if you don't use, you are impacted because it forces users to increase application rates.) And, though we tend to think of evolution as something that happens over billions or millions of years - we now know it can also happen rapidly. Depending on who's doing the evolving in days, weeks, months or a few years. Not only that but we humans can and do influence evolution of everything from bacteria to plants, bugs, fish, even mammals. This isn't a good thing. At least, not for us.

Any who, the upshot of all of this is a new book! Unnatural Selection: how we are changing life gene by gene is written for anyone interested in the too-often under appreciated downsides of using lots of chemicals. That is, evolution in the pests and pathogens we tend to insist on wiping out! Next up is a book about the solutions. Hopefully in a year or so.

I've posted some blogs at toxicevolution.wordpress.com and now have a site with updates about events and talks at emilymonosson.wordpress.com

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Some history: Toxicology as a formally recognized scientific discipline is relatively new (mid 1900’s) although the science itself is thousands of years old. Consider the potential results of early trial and error experiences of hunter-gatherers for whom identifying a toxic plant or animal was a life or death situation. Some of the most poisonous substances known today are naturally produced chemicals including Ricin from castor beans or tetrodotoxin from the puffer fish. Early humans’ careful observation of plants or animals with toxic characteristics such as frogs containing curare, were put to use not only for avoidance of toxic substances but for weapons as well. Additionally, many naturally derived poisons were likely used for hunting, medicinals (the Egyptians were aware of many toxic substances such as lead, opium and hemlock as early as 1500 BCE), and eventually for the political poisonings practiced, for example, by the early Greeks and Romans.

As humans sought to better understand natural compounds that were both beneficial and harmful, there was very little if any clear understanding of the fundamental chemical nature of substances. That is, there was no connection between the ‘extract’ or ‘essence’ of a poisonous plant or animal and any one particular chemical that might cause toxicity. In fact, an awareness of chemistry in its modern form did not occur until the mid to late 1600’s[i]. So it is ironic that Paracelsus, a physician from the sixteenth century and one of the early “Fathers of Toxicology” had no clear understanding of chemistry as we know it today. He along with many others at that time apparently believed that all matter was composed of three “primary bodies” (sulfur, salt, and mercury)[ii]. Yet Paracelsus also coined the now famous (or infamous) maxim of the newly emerging discipline of toxicology:

“All substances are poisons, there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison from a remedy.” (Paracelsus,1493-1541)

This phrase and Paracelsus’ name are committed to memory by hundreds of new toxicology students each year and has become the ‘motto’ of toxicology. Interestingly, if one takes Paracelsus at face value, it appears he was referring to potential remedies. This is an important point, since in recent years some have turned this around to suggest that exposure to very small doses of highly toxic chemicals (such as dioxins) might not be an problem! These days most of us are well aware of the fact that overdosing can turn remedies to poisons, even with apparently innocuous drugs such as aspirin and Tylenol.

[i] Ball, P. 1999. Life’s Matrix: A Biography of Water. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NY, NY.

[ii] Ball, 2001.