Toxicity

Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell (cytotoxicity) or an organ such as the liver (hepatotoxicity). Sometimes the word is more or less synonymous with poisoning in everyday usage. A central concept of toxicology is that the effects of a toxicant are dose-dependent; even water can lead to water intoxication when taken in too high a dose, whereas for even a very toxic substance such as snake venom there is a dose below which there is no detectable toxic effect. Toxicity is species-specific, making cross-species analysis problematic. Newer paradigms and metrics are evolving to bypass animal testing, while maintaining the concept of toxicity endpoints. In Ancient Greek medical literature, the adjective τοξικόν (meaning "toxic") was used to describe substances which had the ability of "causing death or serious debilitation or exhibiting symptoms of infection." The word draws its origins from the Greek noun τόξον toxon (meaning "arc"), in reference to the use of bows and poisoned arrows as weapons. Humans have a deeply rooted history of not only being aware of toxicity, but also taking advantage of it as a tool. Archaeologists studying bone arrows from caves of Southern Africa have noted the likelihood that some, aging 72,000 to 80,000 years old, were dipped in specially prepared poisons to increase their lethality.