Assessment of toxicity : a memorandum prepared by the Toxiciology Committee of the Medical Research Council ; [written by J.M. Barnes and W.D.M. Paton].

Date:
[1957?]
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Assessment of toxicity : a memorandum prepared by the Toxiciology Committee of the Medical Research Council ; [written by J.M. Barnes and W.D.M. Paton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/4 (page 2)
    Reprinted from the Monthly Bulletin of the Ministry of Health and the Public Health Laboratory Service, 1957, 16, 2. ASSESSMENT OF TOXICITY A Memorandum prepared by the Toxicology Committee* of the Medical Research Council One of the functions of the Medical Research Council is to advise Govern¬ ment Departments on questions involving the use of the latest knowledge in medical science. In answering such questions, the Council are guided by a number of expert advisory Committees, of which their Toxicology Com¬ mittee is one. The role of the Toxicology Committee in this field is to discover and interpret the available information about the safety or harmful¬ ness of chemical compounds to which the general population or a particular group of it may be exposed, and to make suggestions for further research work where this is deemed to be necessary. Such tasks as those of defining the conditions of safe use or the setting of permitted concentrations in foods or other consumer goods depend so largely on factors outside the purview of the Committee that the Committee cannot in general undertake the formulation of practical advice. Nevertheless it is possible to outline some of the considerations which may govern the conditions of use of toxic materials. This memorandum sets out some of these principles in order to assist the work of applying appropriately the scientific knowledge available. Data from Toxicity Tests There is no prescribed pattern of toxicity tests to be applied routinely to every compound studied from the point of view of its toxic properties. The Committee believe that the precise nature of the tests to be applied after the preliminary results of the examination of any compound become available must be determined by the investigator’s knowledge and experience. In general all toxicity data should include the following information: (a) The size of the single lethal dose when administered by mouth either undiluted or in a suitable solvent such as water, vegetable oil or other assimilable vehicle. An approximation to the LD50 should be given together with the range between the smallest dose having any toxic effect and that which kills the animals. As variation in species sensitivity may be considerable tests should be done on, say, rats or mice, rabbits or guinea pigs, dogs or cats and in special cases monkeys might be included. (,b) The objective signs of poisoning elicited by a dose not immediately fatal with a note on their duration. The outstanding naked eye and microscopic lesions in the animals that die. * The Toxicology Committee is composed of the following members: Professor E. J. King, D.Sc. (Chairman) H. Cullumbine, M.D., M.Sc. Professor J. H. Gaddum, Sc.D., M.R.C.S., F.R.S. Donald Hunter, M.D., F.R.C.P. A. Thelwall Jones, M.D., M.R.C.P., D.P.H. E. R. A. Merewether, C.B.E., M.D., F.R.C.P. Professor W. D. M. Paton, D.M. Sir Rudolph Peters, M.C., M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.S. J. Davidson Pratt, C.B.E., B.Sc., F.R.I.C. G. Samuel, M.Sc. Professor J. R. Squire, M.D., F.R.C.P. J. Walker, D.Sc. Professor R. T. Williams, D.Sc. Professor Andrew Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.F.P.S. J. M. Barnes, Esq., M.B. (Secretary)