The Dosage of Drugs, Toxins and Antitoxins

Dreyer, Georges; Ew, Walker

doi:10.1177/003591571400702112

Cited by 6 publications

References 2 publications

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Utilization of juvenile animal studies to determine the human effects and risks of environmental toxicants during postnatal developmental stages

Brent

2004

Birth Defects Research Pt B

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Scientists can utilize animal studies to study the toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic aspects of drugs and environmental toxicants. But they have to be carried out with the most modern techniques and interpreted with the highest level of scholarship and objectivity. Threshold exposures, no-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) exposures, and toxic effects can be determined in animals, but have to be interpreted with caution when applying them to the human. Adult problems in growth, endocrine dysfunction, neurobehavioral abnormalities, and oncogenesis may be related to exposures to drugs, chemicals, and physical agents during development and may be fruitful areas for investigation. Maximum permissible exposures have to be based on data, not on generalizations that are applied to all drugs and chemicals. Epidemiology studies are still the best methodology for determining the human risk and the effects of environmental toxicants. Carrying out these focused studies in developing humans will be difficult. Animal studies may be our only alternative for answering many questions with regard to specific postnatal developmental vulnerabilities.

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