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In 1958 I was finishing up a Ph.D. program in Physiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. My thesis research was on structure-activity relationships of certain riboflavin analogs, although at that time we didn't call it that. Like any other "about-to-graduate" biomedical scientist, I went to the federation meeting in Atlantic City that spring to give my first paper and to search for a job. In a casual conversation with another U of R graduate student I mentioned that what I'd like to do more than anything else was study the effect of changes in chemical structure on biological activity. He responded that he knew someone who was looking for an individual to do just that. He sent me to Harold Hodge, then Chairman of Pharmacology at the U of R. Harold made a phone call; I had a job interview, followed by an offer, followed by a move to the Washington, DC area a week after graduation. The offer was to work with Dr. Harry W. Hays, the director of what eventually became known as the Advisory Center on Toxicology at the NAS-NRC. Among the professionals on the center's staff was a part-timer who had just retired from NIH as the senior toxicologist in the Public Health Service, Dr. W. F. von Oettingen. (How I learned toxicology from "Dr. Von" is another story for another time.)
In 1961 the offices of the center were located in the American Chemical Society building on 16th and M Streets in Washington, DC. Those offices were the incubator for the Society and the first organizational meetings were essentially held in secret. The first one, 4 March 1961, was on a Saturday. Present were 7 of the 9 foundersHarry W. Hays, Fred Coulston, Victor A. Drill, William B. Deichmann, Harold Hodge, Arnold Lehman, and C. Boyd Shaffer. Invited, unable to attend but available by telephone were the other 2 founders Paul Larson and Kenneth DuBois. In this time period the Pharmacology Society was very strong and many toxicologists were members. Toxicology got very little play in that Society and even less in their journal. The central concern of these founders was the need for a forum where toxicologists could meet, exchange ideas, and discuss their research without seeming to be splintering the Pharmacology Society. In the end, it was agreed to form a Society of Toxicology (SOT). To underwrite this new enterprise those present dug into their pockets for $5.00 each and the initial treasury had that $35 for Bill Deichmann to shepherd.
The Early Days
The first formal meeting of the SOT occurred on 15 April 1962 in Atlantic City. The initial officers and Council were the 9 founders. At that time there were 183 charter members. These included 37 accepted by invitation and the remainder by application. The criteria for membership were a graduate degree and evidence of having published original work in toxicology. From the beginning, the question of membership for those persons engaged in the field of toxicology but without publications was considered but deferred until 1968. That year the constitution and bylaws were amended to consider those who were "generally recognized as expert in some phase of toxicology." Three honorary members were also named in that first year: Torald Sollmann, Wolfgang von Oettingen, and Eugene M. K. Geiling. Membership dues in 1962 were $10.00 and the Society had $1512.82 in the bank.
Geiling was a strong supporter of the new Society and provided sound advice based on his earlier experiences in sharply distinguishing the new discipline from the more established one of pharmacology and identifying the societal benefits that toxicology would provide. He suggested defining toxicology as the science of poisons to separate it from pharmacology and suggested that safety evaluation be included to justify public support for this emerging discipline. Geiling felt that if toxicology were defined solely as the study of the adverse effect of chemicals on living systems, without noting the use of that information to evaluate safety or predict risk, we would be describing what we do but not why we do it. He is owed a great debt of gratitude for getting this nascent science (and as a corollary, its Society) off in the right direction.
The seal of the Society of Toxicology was adopted in the third year of the Society at the same time that the SOT was formally incorporated. Louise Shaffer, wife of founder and second President Boyd Shaffer, designed the seal. The overall idea was to express safety and protection from poison through increasing knowledge. The components of the seal are the word "salus," Latin for safety; the ribband (or ribbon), a token of preeminence or superiority; the arrow, representing the toxicon or poison arrow, and the shield representing protection. The wreath is a symbol of success and the radiating lines are force manifesting itself, victory over ignorance. Of course, we see that seal on the journals and other publications, as well as the award plaques, letterhead, etc.
In those early days, everything was worked to a "fare-thee-well." Debated extensively was the relationship of the Society to its journal, Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. The journal was founded in April 1958 by three of the SOT founders, Harry Hays, Fred Coulston, and Arnold Lehman and was to be published by Academic Press. By September of that year enough papers had been received, reviewed (what a process that was), and approved for inclusion in Volume 1, Number 1, January 1959. There then ensued a number of discussions about making TAP the official journal of the Society and about the nature of the relationship between SOT and Academic Press. It seems as though these discussions have taken on a life of their own, and every president since Harold Hodge has had to deal with some issues relating to the journal and its publisher. In 1981, the Society, which did not own TAP, established a second journal, Fundamental and Applied Toxicology, which it did own. The journal was retitled Toxicological Sciences in 1998 and the scope broadened to include reviews, editorials, and coverage of contemporary issues. It has also begun a series on profiles in toxicology, which highlights key persons in the field.
A Period of Growth
Where to hold the annual meetings was also a concern of the early Councils. As noted before, the first meeting was in Atlantic City, the second was in Cincinnati, and the third was in Williamsburg, Virginia. The latter was a most comfortable venue as the meeting attracted about 270 participants. The next two meetings were also in Williamsburg, and the attendance grew steadily to just over 400. Council realized that to hold space in desirable locations, advance planning was needed, and from 1966 they went on a rotating three-year cycle of meetings in Williamsburg, Atlanta, and Washington, DC. Somehow Atlanta was not available in 1973 and the meeting was held in New York City. After 1975 the meetings began to be held more broadly across the country. This reflected the movement westward of membership and the availability of attractive meeting sites. In 1977, the SOT went outside the U.S. for the first time, holding its meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The first International Congress on Toxicology followed that meeting, also in Toronto. In 1978 the SOT crossed the Mississippi River and held its meeting in San Francisco. By 1992 the SOT had outgrown its practice of holding the scientific sessions and exhibits in the headquarters hotel and the Seattle meeting utilized a convention center for the first time.
As might be expected, the format and content of the meetings evolved over the years. Many of us recall that weekends were special times, not to be given over to meetings. That changed abruptly when the airlines began offering substantial discounts for Saturday night stays. Very promptly, the Society moved everything ahead by 1 day and people began arriving on Saturday with the continuing education courses and small meetings being held on the Sunday.
The March 1976 meeting in Atlanta saw the introduction of another meeting innovation, the presence of commercial exhibits. My recollection is that there were only a handful of exhibitors, but the numbers grew steadily with time. Very shortly thereafter the Society engaged the services of an exhibits contractor to handle all aspects of the commercial exhibits including setting and collecting an exhibits fee. The SOT received a portion of that fee as meeting income. Once the Society had paid staff this issue was reexamined and today the management of over 150 exhibits is handled internally. The nature and variety of the exhibits reflects the changes in our science. In the beginning, the exhibitors were animal suppliers and booksellers primarily. Today, just look around the exhibit hall in the Moscone Center and see what is offered.
In early 1965 President Harry Hays received a letter and a substantial check to establish an award for whatever purpose Council decided. Soon thereafter Council established two awards: an Achievement Award to be given during the first decade of an individual's career for meritorious contribution to the science of toxicology, and a Merit Award to be made in recognition of a career of outstanding merit in the profession or of noteworthy contributions to the science of toxicology. Council, using the gifted funds, set the Achievement Award at $500 and the Merit Award at $1000. In addition, a plaque and certificate were to be given. The first Merit Award was presented in 1966 to Henry F. Smyth, Jr. In 1967, the first Achievement Award was made to Gabbie Plaa. Those persons who selected Gabbie certainly knew how to identify talent in the field of toxicology. Gabbie, now retired, went on to be Editor of TAP, receive the Education Award in 1987, and the Merit Award in 1996. He was also President of the SOT from 19831984.
The number of awards given not only by the Society but also by other sponsoring organizations has grown. Today you will meet the winners of the Achievement, Lehman, Education, Public Communications, Board of Publications, and Merit Awards as well as the newer awards. As an interesting sidelight, when I was secretary of the Society I learned the identity of that first donor for the awards. He continued to underwrite those awards for several years, always insisting on anonymity. Although the official history of the Society does not mention it, I believe he was given a special award by the Society for his contributions to the field without specifying that we were recognizing his generosity in underwriting the Merit and Achievement Awards for many years.
The Society Changes
Just as the meetings grew and evolved over the last 40 years, so has the Society itself. Two features of that change seemed of special importance to me. They are the newsletter and the development of regional chapters and specialty sections. The first newsletter appeared in July 1964 and was intended to be a bimonthly report to members on activities of the Society, including reminders for meeting registration, calls for papers for the meeting, activities of Council, and information about members. The elected secretary of the Society initially wrote the newsletter. Once the SOT had a paid staff, the secretariat began to handle the newsletter.
In the eighteenth year of the Society, 19781979, Council examined the idea of regional chapters and specialty sections. The Society was growing and the size of the meeting was growing just as rapidly if not more so. There was concern that the increasing breadth of scientific interests encompassed in toxicology would lead to a sense of homelessness, that individuals working in a geographic area or narrow subject area might not feel comfortable in the larger Society. These chapters and sections would afford the "home" that they desired. The November 1979 newsletter had the results of a questionnaire submitted to members on the feasibility and advisability of these innovations. The membership strongly approved the concept and by early 1981 there were 4 regional chapters (Mid-Atlantic, Michigan, Mid-West, and North Carolina) and 3 specialty sections (Mechanisms, Metals, and Reproductive Toxicology). Today there are 18 specialty sections with 40 to over 300 members each and 17 regional chapters. The smallest geographically is AlleghenyErie covering a couple of counties in Western Pennsylvania. The largest is Mountain West, which covers Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, and the southern half of Idaho!
Today
Today, toxicology is taught and the science advanced in scores of medical, dental, veterinary, pharmacy, and public health schools across the country. In the view of John Doull and Fred Coulston, among others, it came of age in the 1940s. That coming of age was typified by its transition to an academic discipline with journals, texts, degrees, curricula, societies, meetings, certification, etc. The transition may have begun at the University of Chicago with the establishment of the "Tox Lab" under E. M. K. Geiling to study chemical warfare agents. About the same time the Rochester group under Harold Hodge began the study of agents associated with the emergence of a nuclear weapons program. A third center was at New York University under the guidance of Norton Nelson. When NIEHS began significant support of graduate training in toxicology it afforded many more students the chance to enter this increasingly important field. Today, the SOT has over 5000 members, about 400, like me are retired. Private sector support is now represented by 50 some SOT associates.
Why has the SOT grown and flourished while many of the sister organizations in other disciplines appeared to founder? It may well be because the SOT has embraced the newest science, drawn it into the annual meeting, and made it part of the practice of toxicology. Molecular biology, immunology, neuroscience and on and on have been applied to questions facing toxicology and risk assessment and been welcomed into toxicology. Here is where the regional chapters and specialty sections have made their real contribution. These new sciences have been incubated at the regional or specialty level and then offered to the program committees who, in turn, have shown a receptiveness to that new science. If one also considers the further evolution of the meeting away from the 10-minute platform session and more into poster sessions, poster-discussions, and debates, it is clear that the quality of our science and its presentation have kept the SOT at the forefront.
What will be said about our Society at the 50th anniversary? As expressed by past president J. Hook, state of the art science is the bedrock upon which the SOT was built and will continue to grow (Hook, personal communication). Let us both hope and work to keep that so. See you then. Thank you.
NOTES
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed.
This historical survey was presented at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Society of Toxicology in San Francisco, March 2001.
REFERENCES
Doull, J. (2001). Toxicology comes of age. Ann. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 41, 121.[ISI][Medline]
Hays, H. W. (1986). Society of Toxicology History 19611986. Privately printed.
Neal, R. A. (1996). A career in toxicology. Ann. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 36, 3546.[ISI]