Département de pharmacologie, Faculté de médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3J7
The membership directory of the Society of Toxicology for the year 2001 lists over 5000 individuals. We find listings for 18 different Specialty Sections and 18 Regional Chapters. As well, media resource specialists are identified for 18 issues of public concern, including such diverse topics as air pollution, chlorine-based compounds, endocrine disrupters, and validation of alternative methods for assessing toxicity. What a broad spectrum of toxicological knowledge! When SOT was founded in 1961, and the membership consisted of 180 Charter Members and 3 Honorary Members, what were the characteristics of those individuals who felt the compelling need to organize under a common banner?
During the 1950s, one could identify three general orientations in which toxicology was reasonably well developed in the United States. One was related to the safe use of new pharmaceutical agents and cosmetics. Another was concerned with the toxicological assessment of chemical products to establish their safety for commercial use and their safety in the occupational environment. The third group consisted of clinical toxicology and forensic toxicology, the former dealing with the clinical diagnosis and management of human intoxications and the latter with the medico-legal aspects of chemical intoxications.
Of the three areas of expertise, probably the largest in terms of numbers was the one related to pharmaceutical products. The era of therapeutic agents arising from new chemicals synthesized in the laboratory had arrived, and this required rigorous assessment of safety for their proper use as medicinal agents. The scientific leadership of Arnold J. Lehman, as Director of the Pharmacology Division of the Food and Drug Administration, and his colleagues had a lasting impact on the regulatory sphere. The pharmaceutical industry itself expanded its own research programs to include toxicology, and as a sign of things to come, we saw the emergence of private consulting laboratories such as Hazelton Laboratories and Food and Drug Research Laboratories, founded by L. W. Hazleton and B. L. Oser, respectively.
Industrial toxicology and interest in the safe use of chemicals was a natural extension of important societal concerns about establishing safe working environments. Also, the agrochemical industry was in great expansion. Individuals trained as physicians, chemists, biologists, or in public health contributed to the development of this field. Several leading toxicology laboratories emerged within the chemical industry, as exemplified by the Biochemical Research Laboratory (D. D. Irish) of Dow Chemical, the Haskell Laboratory (J. A. Zapp, Jr.) of E. I. du Pont de Nemours, and the Laboratory of Industrial Medicine (D. W. Fassett) of Eastman Kodak. The Mellon Institute (C. S. Weil) in Pittsburgh and such U.S. Public Health Service facilities as the Communicable Disease Center (now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) (W. J. Hayes, Jr.) in Atlanta and the Cincinnati Inhalation Laboratories (H. E. Stokinger) played important roles.
Clinical toxicology as a medical discipline was a natural extension of human and veterinary medicine. It produced the scientific basis for the diagnosis and management of chemical intoxications. Forensic toxicology in the United States, however, followed a slightly different evolutionary path. This group was smaller in number, and these toxicologists were usually associated with municipal or state laboratories. The major preoccupation of forensic toxicologists during the post-World War II era was the formidable task of the chemical detection of poisonous or illicit chemicals in biological specimens. The field was greatly dependent on analytical chemistry and the development of analytical instrumentation. The successful qualitative and quantitative identification of toxicants was the driving force of much of the research in this area. Some of the early future Society of Toxicology members who made important contributions to clinical and forensic toxicology during this period include C. N. Thienes (University of Southern California), R. E. Gosselin (Dartmouth Medical School), T. A. Loomis (University of Washington), C. H. Hine (University of California), R. B. Forney (Indiana University), K. B. Dubowski (University of Oklahoma), L. G. Goldbaum (Armed Forces Institute of Pathology), and S. Kaye (Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia, Richmond).
Also, a few words should be said about the early training of toxicologists in the 1950s. Many individuals received their graduate education in other disciplines before coming to toxicology, or they were trained initially as physicians or veterinarians. In addition, a number of graduate programs leading to advanced studies in toxicology appeared in pharmacology departments located in medical schools or pharmacy schools. Shortly after World War II (and well before the emergence of National Institutes of Health training grants), active research programs in toxicology appeared in a number of academic institutions. Examples include the University of Chicago (K. P. DuBois), University of Rochester (H. C. Hodge), University of California-San Francisco (C. H. Hine), University of Miami (W. D. Deichmann), Medical College of Virginia (P. S. Larson), Jefferson Medical College (J. M. Coon), and Purdue University (T. S. Miya). A large number of future members of SOT were initially trained in these institutions.
Where were research results in toxicology published in the late 1950s? There were no professional journals in the United States exclusively devoted to toxicology. Publication in the field was largely restricted to the following research periodicals: Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, AMA Archives of Industrial Health, American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, Journal of Forensic Sciences, and Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine. Clinically oriented toxicology reports also appeared in some pathology journals, and other journals devoted to human or veterinary medicine. There was an urgent need for a publication devoted to toxicology. In 1959, the establishment of Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology by the founding editors, Frederick Coulston, Arnold J. Lehman, and Harry W. Hays, and published by Academic Press, the owner of the journal, was a landmark historic event in the recognition of toxicology as a fully established scientific discipline.
Regarding professional societies, there were none in the U.S. that were clearly identified with the field of toxicology in the 1950s. Forensic toxicologists were usually members of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Clinical toxicologists were usually members of medical specialty groups, since the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology was only established in 1968. Many industrial toxicologists were part of the American Industrial Hygiene Association. Toxicologists who identified themselves as having a pharmaceutical orientation might be members of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, but in the 1950s this organization was largely made up of individuals with university affiliations.
In 1961, the time was right, and the need for a learned society devoted to toxicology was clearly established. A small group of toxicologists met in Washington, DC in March 1961 and formed The Society of Toxicology. A key element: that membership in this new society would be open to qualified scientists throughout the world who wished to support a society promoting the science of toxicology. The details of this historic event and its consequences can be found in the 25-year history published by SOT in 1986: Society of Toxicology History 19611986, by H. W. Hays, assisted by F. M. Carleton. The founders of SOT were Frederick Coulston (Sterling-Winthrop Research Institute), William B. Deichmann (University of Miami), Victor A. Drill (G D Searle & Co.), Kenneth P. DuBois (University of Chicago), Harry W. Hays (National Research Council), Harold C. Hodge (University of Rochester), Paul S. Larson (Medical College of Virginia), Arnold J. Lehman (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), and C. Boyd Shaffer (American Cyanamid Co.). Dr. Lehman was named honorary president, and the first elected president was Dr. Hodge. Subsequent organizational meetings were held in 1961 in Atlantic City (at the meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology), Detroit (American Industrial Hygiene Association meeting), Meriden, NH (Gordon Conference) and Rochester, NY (American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics meeting). The minimum requirements for membership were defined as possession of a graduate degree and evidence of original research in some phase of toxicology.
The first meeting of SOT was held in Atlantic City on April 15, 1962; there were 180 charter members. In addition, three very distinguished elder statesmen were awarded Honorary Memberships for their exemplary contributions to the science of toxicology: T. Sollmann of Western Reserve University, W. F. von Oettingen of Haskell Laboratories and U.S. Public Health Service, and E. M. K. Geiling of the University of Chicago. It is interesting to note that of the charter members whose primary interests can be identified from their professional affiliations, about 50% appeared to be pharmaceutically oriented toxicologists, about 40% tended towards occupational or industrial toxicology, and less than 5% could be identified as clinical or forensic toxicologists. Also, 7% were from countries other than the United States. At the first annual meeting, it was announced that Academic Press and SOT had entered into an agreement, whereby Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology was now recognized as an official publication of the Society, and that SOT would exercise editorial policy and management of the journal through its Board of Publications. What a remarkable beginning for SOT!
The diversity of the science of toxicology was recognized right from the start, as was the need for sound educational training programs. The Educational Committee proposed, at the Third Annual Meeting of the SOT (1964), that regardless of subspecialties, a toxicologist would be expected to have knowledge in three areas: (1) chemistry, (2) biology, and (3) scientific methodology. Core subjects were identified. Particular emphasis was placed on research projects in experimental toxicology. The committee also put forth the notions that an interdisciplinary approach to the training of toxicologists might be more efficient than trying to establish separate departments of toxicology, and that on-the-job training should be considered as an adjunct to formal training (see H. W. Hays and F. M. Carleton, Society of Toxicology History 19611986, Society of Toxicology, 1986, pp. 3031.; G. L. Plaa, Graduate training in toxicology, Am. J. Pharm. Educ. 38, 1974, pp. 330333). These basic concepts are still applicable 36 years later.
We know that in 1961, probably no one could have anticipated the growth of our discipline and its expansion into what it is today, at the beginning of the 21st century. We can also doubt that we could have predicted the numerous other toxicology periodicals and several other toxicological associations that would emerge into the light of day worldwide. It is fitting, nevertheless, that the Society of Toxicology itself has been able to deal with the great diversity and vast interests of its own membership and to still remain a dominant educational and research forum for the advancement of the science of toxicology.
NOTES
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed at 236 Meredith Avenue, Dorval, QC, Canada H9S 2Y7. Fax: (514) 631-6750. E-mail: plaag{at}magellan.umontreal.ca.
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