抄録
It is important to define the toxicity of chemical substances through animal testing, but toxicology studies in academic institutions have a short history. The Society of Toxicology in the US (SOT) was founded in 1961 and the Federation of European Toxicologists & European Societies of Toxicology (EUROTOX) was founded in 1962. The Japanese Society of Toxicology derives its origin from a semiprivate
toxicology study group which was created in 1973. This group was renamed the Japanese Society of Toxicological Sciences (JSTS) in 1980. The JSTS is affiliated with the International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX) and has started to work internationally. The JSTS was renamed the Japanese Society of Toxicology (JSOT) in 1997. The membership number exceeds 2600 (as of May 31) and the JSOT hosts the world’s second largest toxicological conference.
The social role of toxicology is important and the evaluation of food safety is of particular importance for human health. Food additives present in daily foods are considered foreign substances. Food additives such as coagulating agents and preservatives needed for the manufacturing and processing of foods have been in use for a long time. The acceptable daily intake (ADI) for food additives is defined as the maximum amount of a chemical that can be ingested daily over a lifetime without appreciable health risk based on the result of toxicity studies.
There is no potential difference in toxicity between natural substances and chemically synthetic substances. It is wrong to regard that “natural substances are safe, but chemical synthetic substances are dangerous”. Natural substances are not always safe. Sometimes the amount of active ingredients in a natural substances is insufficient and, in addition, natural substances may contain impurities. On the other hand, chemically synthetic substances have definite specifications and purity. The supply of chemical synthetic substances is typically stable and they can be used with reliability.
A primary mission of toxicology is to identify hazards and health risks for humans using chemicals such as food additives.
