bc962 at FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Mark Korchinski) wrote:
>Interesting question. In the quest to stop the massacre of the English
>languange here are the definitions as per Stedman's Medical Dictionary
>24th Ed.:
>>toxin: a noxious of poisonous substance that is formed or elaborated either
>as an integral part of the cell or tissue, as an extracellular product
>(exotoxin), or as a combination of the two, during the metabolism and
>growth of certain microorganisms, as well as some of the higher plant and
>animal species; in general, t.'s are relatively complex antigenic
>molecules, and the chemical compositions are usually not precisely known.
>>toxicant: 1. Poisonous. 2. Any poisonous agent, specifically an alcoholic
>or other poison, causing symptoms of what is popularly called intoxication.
>>>>"ENV.TOX" (ENVTOX at MSU.EDU) writes:
>> Greetings and Salutations:
>>>> I apologize for interrupting the current thread on animal models (which is very
>> interesting, and certainly one of the $64.00 questions toxicologists must come
>> to terms with), but I hope many of you will abide this breif detour and respond
>> my query.
>>>> I would like to solicit the feedback of the group regarding a minor topic I
>> about which I am curious. It is whether subscribers to this newsgroup in gen-
>> eral interpret (as I do) the terms "toxin" and "toxicant" differently, or
>> whether they consider them to be interchangeable. I was taught that "toxin"
>> refers to a substance of exclusively biological origin which elicits a
>> toxic response (e.g. endotoxins or snake venom), whereas "toxicant" refers
>> simply to a substance which elicits a toxic response. I have seen the term
>> "toxin" used to denote both of the foregoing in papers published by some very
>> notable figures in public health/risk assessment, and so I am wondering what
>> the prevailing view is.
>>>> Please respond to me personally, so as not to clog up the list.
>>>> If sufficient numbers express interest in their votes, I will post the results
>> to the list.
>>>> Thanks for your time...
>>>> Best Regards,
>>>> B. L. Aaron, MS
>>>--
>Mark
><<< I never let my schooling get in the way of my education>>>
> Mark Twain
In A TEXTBOOK OF MODERN TOXICOLOGY by Ernest Hodgson and Patricia E.
Levi (pages 16 to19) there is listed the following topics: Mycotoxins,
Microbial Toxins, Plant Toxins and Animal Toxins which indicate that
toxins are of biologic origin. One could argue that that ethanol is a
toxin because it is of biologic origin; however, I feel the argument
would be weak.
John A. Budny
