Dioxins and Health

This book originated in a series of cross-disciplinary conversations in the years 1984-1990 between the editor, who is a physician-researcher involved in clinical and laboratory research, and a dioxin toxicologist. During the years in which the conversations took place, an extraordinary amount of new scientific literature was published related to dioxins, defined for purposes of this text as the chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans, polychlorinated biphe nyls (PCB's) and other compounds that are structurally and toxicologically similar to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7 ,8-TCDD), the most extensively studied and most toxic of this group of chemicals. Dioxins also began to interest not only chemists and toxicologists, but also specialists from diverse disciplines such as wildlife and environmental science, immunology, neuroscience,public health, epidemiology, med icine, government, law, sociology, and journalism. Specialists from such varied disciplines, while familiar with their own literature, frequently did not have time to follow the dioxin literature outside their specialty area. In addition, each specialty had unique knowledge, methods, and perspectives. Cross disciplinary conversation was necessary, but all too frequently, specialists from the various disciplines did not speak the same language, resulting in misunderstanding.

Klappentext

'This book deserves much praise. It assembles and presents an enormous amount of information in a very readable manner. Although each chapter is the product of different authors, the writing is surprisingly uniform....Dioxins and Health is an important and useful book that belongs in most institutional libraries, as well as in the libraries of any physician concerned with environmental toxicology in general or halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons in particular.' -Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine This comprehensive volume summarizes the current state of scientific knowledge of dioxins and dioxin-like substances such as dibenzofurans, PCBs, and other related chemicals. It documents a variety of toxic effects of highly persistent and synthetic chemicals on laboratory animals, wildlife, and humans. The only up-to-date book on the subject, Dioxins and Health is an excellent reference for researchers, professionals, and clinicians working in toxicology, biochemistry, public health, and epidemiology.

Inhalt
1 Overview: The Dioxin Debate.- 2 Risk Assessments of Dioxinlike Compounds.- 3 Environmental Sources, Distribution, and Fate of Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins, Dibenzofurans, and Related Organochlorines.- 4 Dioxins in Food.- 5 Toxicology of Dioxins and Related Chemicals.- 6 Pharmacokinetics of Dioxins and Related Chemicals.- 7 Immunotoxicology of Dioxins and Related Chemicals.- 8 Dose-Response Effects of Dioxins: Species Comparison and Implication for Risk Assessment.- 9 Dioxins, Dibenzofurans, PCBs and Wildlife.- 10 Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity of Dioxins and Other Ah Receptor Agonists.- 11 Aquatic Toxicity of Dioxins and Related Chemicals.- 12 Dioxins and Mammalian Carcinogenesis.- 13 Neurochemical and Behavioral Sequelae of Exposure to Dioxins and PCBs.- 14 Exposure Assessment: Measurement of Dioxins and Related Chemicals in Human Tissues.- 15 Human Health Effects of Polychlorinated Biphenyls.- 16 Cancer Epidemiology.- 17 Reproductive Epidemiology of Dioxins.- 18 Chemical, Environmental, and Health Aspects of the Seveso, Italy, Accident.- 19 The Yusho Rice Oil Poisoning Incident.- 20 The Yu-cheng Rice Oil Poisoning Incident.