Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The long and cold winter is now behind us here in Finland. It is great to see the world turning green again; summer is approaching and in Finland that means we are able to enjoy the sunlight long into the wee hours of the morning. In the words of the poet Alexander Pope, "Hope springs eternal in the human breast" and every spring we are re-charged with enthusiasm, and just as with individuals, optimism about the future is an important ingredient in the work of IUTOX.

All the members of the IUTOX Executive Committee (EC) have been hard at work in planning the strategic goals of IUTOX for the next three to five years. Other important tasks have been the planning of fund raising, and finalizing the programs of the upcoming 7th Congress of Toxicology in Developing Countries in Sun City, South Africa on September 7–10, and the 12th International Conference of Toxicology to be organized in Barcelona on July 19–23, 2010. I will focus on some of the highlights of the IUTOX strategic work discussed at the IUTOX EC meeting in Baltimore held prior to the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting in March this year.

The IUTOX EC invited Dr. Bob Scala to facilitate the two-day strategic planning meeting in Baltimore and I want to extend my personal thanks to Bob for the work he so excellently did for IUTOX. During these days, a clearer vision and a mission statement were formulated for IUTOX. These two statements were clarified further by generating five objectives to guide the implementation of IUTOX Vision and Mission.

The clarified mission of IUTOX is "to improve human health through the science and practice of toxicology world-wide." The significance of this statement is that IUTOX wishes to have an impact on many issues through applying knowledge from the discipline of toxicology. The mission statement indicates that "IUTOX achieves its vision by fostering international scientific cooperation for the global acquisition and utilization of knowledge in toxicology for the improvement of human health."

IUTOX will reach its strategic objectives, listed below, by fulfilling its role as a multinational, multicultural organization. The five strategic objectives of IUTOX, as defined during the IUTOX EC planning meeting are, to 1) provide an international platform and leadership to promote scientific cooperation and exchange in toxicology; 2) establish opportunities for educational development and exchange in toxicology; 3) broaden the geographic base of toxicology as a discipline; 4) communicate the value of toxicology in improving human health; and 5) strengthen organizational effectiveness.

Four of these strategic goals clearly aim at promoting cooperation between IUTOX and its stakeholders as well as with its important partners such as other international scientific organizations such as the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemicals (SETAC) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), or the World Health Organization (WHO) and its associates. An important IUTOX partner is also the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), an umbrella for international scientific unions and national academies of science.

By promoting chemical safety, IUTOX aims to have a positive global impact on human health. Another important aspect of this message is the appreciation that one way to amplify these efforts is by working in harmony with the national and regional members of the IUTOX. In this respect IUTOX, as an international union, offers a platform for its active member organizations to work together under the IUTOX umbrella to achieve these goals. Also the fifth point in the mission statement, strengthening of organizational effectiveness, aims at promoting this goal. IUTOX has a number of ongoing activities to promote and disseminate toxicology world-wide including the international congresses of toxicology, congresses of toxicology in developing countries, Risk Assessment Summer Schools (RASS) and regional Risk Assessment Workshops already organized in Brazil, in South America, and others to be organized e.g. in South Africa.

These and other activities defined in the new IUTOX strategy will provide clear signposts for the coming years in directing IUTOX's activities. This can be effectively accomplished when the whole IUTOX family speaks with one voice, and acts together with its stakeholders, e.g. industry, partners including international scientific organizations and global parties having objectives similar to those of IUTOX, such as the World Health Organization and International Council for Science.

There have been some important changes in the IUTOX EC. President-elect of IUTOX, Dr. Linda Birnbaum resigned her post with IUTOX when she was named Director of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, effective January 2009. IUTOX has honored when Dr. Daniel Acosta, Jr., Dean of the University of Cincinnati’s James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy assumed the duties of President-elect. Dr. Tohru Inoue, Vice President of IUTOX and Director from the National Institute of Health resigned his IUTOX post, effective April 1, 2009. The Nominating Committee has been working to fill his vacancy and will complete their work soon. Drs. Birnbaum and Inoue both served IUTOX diligently and I want to personally thank them for the many contributions they made over the duration of their service to the IUTOX Executive Council. I also extend a warm welcome to Dr. Acosta who joins an Executive Council ready to face the challenges and opportunities of the future.

With best wishes,

Kai Savolainen
President, International Union of Toxicology

Archive of Presidential Messages

• December 2008: Kai Savolainen
• June 2008: Kai Savolainen
• November 2007: Kai Savolainen
• June 2007: Ali Esat Karakaya
• November 2006: Ali Esat Karakaya
• April 2006: Ali Esat Karakaya
• October 2005: Ali Esat Karakaya
• March 2005: Ali Esat Karakaya
• Sept 2004: Ali Esat Karakaya
• June 2004: Erik Dybing
• December 2003: Erik Dybing
• June 2003: Erik Dybing
• January 2003: Erik Dybing