Toxicology

Toxicology is the study of chemicals that can cause problems for living things. It’s a wide-ranging field: The chemicals may occur naturally or have been created in a lab or factory; the living things may be humans, pets, livestock, or microbes living in a pond. And the problems that concern toxicologists stretch from inconvenience to disaster—from mild skin irritation, for instance, to death.Toxicology is a field of science that helps us understand the harmful effects that chemicals, substances, or situations, can have on people, animals, and the environment. Some refer to toxicology as the “Science of Safety” because as a field it has evolved from a science focused on studying poisons and adverse effects of chemical exposures, to a science devoted to studying safety.