News and Reviews

Print this issue      

President's Message

A Message from the President of IUTOX, Ali Esat Karakaya (October 2005)

Dear IUTOX Member,

A review of the IUTOX activities planned for the next two years was among the agenda items of the IUTOX Executive Committee Meeting held during the EUROTOX 2005 Congress in Krakow, Poland. I am glad to inform you that the scientific program of the EUROTOX 2006 / 6 CTDC Congress has been finalized. Besides symposia and workshop topics on state-of-the-art toxicology, topics on basic toxicological problems that are unique to or most frequently encountered in developing countries, have a prominent place in the scientific program. This scientific program renders the joint EUROTOX/CTDC Congress to be held in Croatia a very important scientific event for the world toxicology community. Meanwhile, the fundamental structure of the scientific program of the ICT XI 2007 Montreal Meeting is now nearing completion; and I am pleased to inform you that it is turning out to be a very exciting program. On behalf of IUTOX, I would like to thank and congratulate the organizers and scientific committees of both congresses for having done an excellent job.

The ICT XI meeting will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the International Congress of Toxicology, the first meeting having been held in Toronto in 1977. Hosted by the Society of Toxicology of Canada, this first ICT congress had also been the venue where final preparations were made for the formation of IUTOX, which was founded in 1980. A committee was formed at the ICT I in 1977 and charged with “preparing the statutes for the founding of IUTOX," thus taking the final steps for actualizing the formation of an International Union of Toxicology, an idea that was first put-forth by William D. Deichmann in 1968.* Thus, ICT XI Montreal Meeting will not only be an outstanding scientific event, but it will also be a congress held at a date that has historical meaning both for ICT and IUTOX.

The 11th Risk Assessment Summer School (RASS XI) to be held in Germany next September, is another IUTOX activity planned for 2006. This summer school, which has been held bi-annually ever since 1985 under the guidance and directorship of Torbjörn Malmfors, is a unique opportunity for young toxicologists to broaden their knowledge and experience in the field of data evaluation and chemical risk assessment. Meanwhile, drawing on his 20 years of experience, Dr. Malforms has prepared a document titled "The RASS Training Manual": I think it is an excellent manual and will be of great help to the organizers of similar summer schools, not only on the subject of risk assessment but also on all other prospective subjects.

As has been stated in the IUTOX strategic plan, one of the objectives of our organization is to pursue capacity building in toxicology in developing countries. As IUTOX, we consider each event and activity that I have mentioned above, as a useful and important tool for achieving the said objective. And to this end we make every effort to ensure the active participation of as many toxicologists from developing countries as possible. So we have sought and have obtained some new funds and financial support for this purpose: For instance, we have already succeeded in obtaining funds for 40 IUTOX Fellowships for the ICT XI Montreal meeting.

Last but not least, the IUTOX program that aims at providing lecturers for the national toxicology meetings held in developing countries continues to be implemented with notable success. We want to encourage our members in developing countries to apply for this program. For information on this subject, please visit the guideline regarding this matter on our Web site.
______________________________________
* Hodel, C., Schou, JS. : Historical Notes on foundation and Functions of the International Union of Toxicology . P.J. Schmidt A/S Vojens, Denmark (1998).

Ali Esat Karakaya
IUTOX President
October 7, 2005

2004–2007 Committees, Comissions, and Task Force Reports (September 2005)

Executive Committee Minutes

International Union of Toxicology
Minutes
Executive Committee Meeting
Krakow, Poland
September 11, 2005
12.00–18.00

Participants: Ali Esat Karakaya (presiding), Robert Kroes, A. Wallace Hayes, Tohru Inoue, Alexander Buerkle, Silvia Barros , Kevin Chipman, Corrado Galli, Barbara Hales, Konrad Rydzynski

Partial Attendance: Rajka Turk, Davor Plavec, Daniel Cyr, Eugeino Vilanova in attendance during the time of their presentation.

President Ali Karakaya opened the meeting of the Executive Committee (EC) of the International Union of Toxicology. Dr. Karakaya welcomed the members of the EC and expressed his thanks for their efforts following the meeting of the EC in New Orleans. He thanked Dr. Rydzynski for his help in arranging the meeting venue and for waving the registration fee for members of the EC. He also expressed his sympathy for the citizens of New Orleans.

The agenda for the current meeting and the minutes of the EC meeting of March 6-7, 2005 were accepted. Travel expenses for members of the EC were to be submitted to IUTOX headquarters. Action items from the previous EC meeting were reviewed and for the most part had been accomplished.

Standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the various committees and activities were discussed. The Executive Committee SOP was reviewed and accepted. It was suggest that specific guidelines for sponsored lecturers be used as the SOP for this activity of IUTOX. Other SOPs will be prepared by the respective committee chairpersons and presented at the next EC meeting.

Dr. Rydzynski reported on the 42nd Congress of European Societies of Toxicology. There were 931 participants from 50 countries registered for the congress. Overall the meeting was declared a success. (Dr. Rydzynski departed the meeting early to attend to EUROTOX business.)

Report of the Commissions

Dr. Buerkle presented the financial statement and the three-year budget. He requested help with contacting individuals at various companies to invite them to become Institutional Sponsors of IUTOX. Currently the largest source of revenue is the International Congress. The Investment Policy was presented and approved. IUTOX has funds under management with Merrill Lynch in the United States.

The chairpersons of the Scientific Commission, the Communication Commission, and the Education and Career Development Commission made their reports (reports are available at IUTOX headquarters and will be placed on the IUTOX website).

Reports of the Committees

The chairpersons of the Membership and Developing Countries Committees made their reports (member reports will be placed on the IUTOX website).

The Developing Countries Committee is working to identify existing Societies of Toxicology that are not members of IUTOX. At least 7 Latin America societies were identified (Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Uruguay, Peru and Venezuela) and contacts willbe made.

The chair of the Committee (Dr.Silvia Barros) continues to participate in the Scientific Committee of the 6th Congress of Toxicology in Developing Countries in 2006 to be held together with EUROTOX in Dubrovinic,Croatia .

With the help of the members of the Committee a questionnaire about toxicology education programs and other activities in developing countries was developed. The questionnaire was distributed to 17 IUTOX member societies with only 5 answers (Brazil, Croatia, Estonia, Iran and Turkey). It is requested that the other 12 societies return their questionnaire as soon as possible.

The committee is working with several countries in order to identify a potential country for a venue of the 7th CTDC in 2009.

Educational material from SOT has been distributed according to the plans of the Education Committee. Book donation efforts have not been effective because of the high cost of sending printed material to societies in developing countries. Dr. Chipman discussed the international laboratory exchange program that he is working on; it is not yet ready to be placed on the IUTOX website.

It was agreed that financial support for the online master program in toxicology would be eliminated but that W. Hayes would contact Paul Wright to see if his was able to find funding from the Australian government and that IUTOX would like to continue to be a sponsor of the program without any financial obligation RASS XI will be held September 2-10, 2006, in Hoeri, Germany. The program will continue under the direction of Torbjörn Malmfors.

Reports of Congresses

ICT XI. Barbara Hales and Daniel Cyr reported on the status and progress of the Congress to be held in Canada in 2007. The Scientific Committee has been expanded as requested by IUTOX. The 40 fellowships have been approved and the books can be audited by IUTOX. The first announcement of ICTXI will be at EUROTOX 2006/CTDC6 in Croatia. This will be the 30 anniversary of ICT with the first ICT having been held in Canada. Alan Okey was selected as the Deichmann Awardee.

Overall the progress on selecting the scientific program is progressing nicely and the feeling of the Canadian SOT is that they are on schedule if not slightly ahead of schedule.

ICT XII. Dr. Vilanova reported on ICT XII that will be held in Barcelona, Spain July 10-16, 2010. Plans are on tract.

EUROTOX 2006/6CTDC. Drs. Plavec and Kroes reported on the progress of this congress. Discussion regarding the overall program and the need for corporate sponsors resulted in several positive suggestions for the various committees involved with this congress.

7 CTDC. Dr. Karakaya reported that, on January 17, 2005, an invitation had been sent by IUTOX to all member societies which would want to host the 7CTDC (2009). Two national societies, those of India and South Africa have informed IUTOX that they are preparing bids which they would submit in due time (before December 31, 2005). Contacts will be maintained with these societies and the subject will be followed up.

Dr. Inoue reported on the 6th World Congress of Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences to be held in Tokyo, Japan from August 21-26, 2007. IUTOX had already sent a letter of support to Dr. Y. Ohno regarding this congress.


Reports of Task Forces

Dr. Chipman reported on the task force dealing with the image of toxicology. Considerable work has been accomplished. Dr. Chipman has a master’s student working on a project in this area. His thesis is completed and the desire of the EC is to have this material published. It was agreed that Dr. Chipman should contact Dr. Iain Purchase and see if he is willing to prepare such a paper. It was also agreed that $5,000 should be set aside for this project.

Dr. Galli reported on the activity of the certification and registration of toxicologist. A program has been developed to select certain individuals or centers around the world to help move this program forward. Several “strawmen” concepts have been developed to illustrate the different approaches to certification/registration. The IART website has been transferred to the IUTOX and will be added to the IUTOX website and maintained by IUTOX.


IUTOX Awards

Dr. Hayes presented the revised guideline for the Merit Award. This guideline was approved with slight modification. The guideline will be posted on the IUTOX website and will appear in the next IUTOX newsletter. Dr. Hayes also reported on the status of the Deichman Award (see earlier). A young scientist award is still under consideration but funding needs to be found to support such an award.

The next meet of the EC will be held in conjunction with the SOT meetings in San Diego, California, USA, March 5-6, 2006.

Dr. Karakaya adjorned the meeting with his thanks to all members of the EC for their hard work.

Respectively submitted,

A. Wallace Hayes
Secretary General, IUTOX

2004–2007 Committees, Comissions, and Task Force Reports (September 2005)

Financial Report

IUTOX Profit and Loss—Income
January 1, 2002–June 30, 2005

IUTOX Profit and Loss—Expenses
January 1, 2002–June 30, 2005

IUTOX Profit and Loss—Net Income
January 1, 2002–June 30, 2005

IUTOX, Balance Sheet
As of June 30, 2005 and December 31, 2002-04

Scientific Commission Report

The Scientific Commission’s general objectives are to follow up on scientific developments and to incorporate these developments where relevant, feasible and/or necessary in the overall scientific strategy of IUTOX and of the global strategy on science (ICSU – International Council of Sciences).

IUTOX will, in particular, focus on scientific activities in developing countries and will stimulate these countries to participate in forthcoming scientific meetings. IUTOX representatives (Prof. Dr. Erik Dybing, Prof. Dr. Sylvia Barros and Prof. Dr. R. Kroes) participated in the Scientific Program Committee of the CTDC6/Eurotox 2006 Congress to be held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, September 20-24, 2006. The Science Commission (Prof Dr. Kevin Chipman, Dr. Barbara Hales, Prof. Dr. Tohru Inoue and Prof. Dr. Robert Kroes) attended the first Scientific Program Committee meeting of the IUTOX Congress ICT XI to be held in Montreal, June 15-19 2007. At the Eurotox Congress 2005 in Cracow, Poland, a second meeting of the Scientific Program Committee meeting of the IUTOX Congress ICT XI was held, where the Science Commission of IUTOX participated.

The chair of the Scientific Commission was appointed as representative of IUTOX in ICSU ( International Council for Science), comments were made on a draft of the Strategic Plan of ICSU and the revised plan was discussed at the 28th General Assembly of ICSU ( see below).

At the General Assembly of the ICSU in Suzhou, China (October 17-20, 2005) the following points discussed and/or decided upon are important to mention:

• Scientific Global projects were reported and evaluated (i e. the International Polar Year (IPY), Natural and
  Human Induced Hazards, Human Health and Well Being, Energy (Renewable), Science and Sustainable Development.
  
• A first (!) Strategic Plan has been developed (2006-2011) and was accepted by the General Assembly.
  
• ICSU has started to regionalise her activities and is currently setting up regional centres in the following regions: Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Arabic Regional, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
  
• The African Regional Centre has been launched (South Africa, Director is Professor Sospeter Muhongo). The Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific will be situated in Malaysia, most probably in Kuala Lumpur. The Latin American Regional Centre will in all probability be located in Brazil.
  
• This regionalisation is welcomed by IUTOX as it enables IUTOX to better organise and focus their Capacity Building Programmes in the future using the regional networks which are being set up.

The following resolutions were adopted by the General Assembly:

To focus more on social sciences in the future as an important additional science to achieve ICSU’s goals;
To reiterate ICSU’s rejection of pseudo sciences and to endorse the teaching of evolution as ICSU takes a stand against the teaching of creationism or intelligent design as if these were a scientific alternative.

Lecturer Funding for National Meetings in Developing Countries

A major activity of IUTOX is to support and enhance toxicology education especially within countries in which toxicology is underrepresented. The work relates strongly to the mission of IUTOX and does much to enhance international cooperation and interaction. The IUTOX Education Commission is pleased to provide the following guidelines on the programmes that are supported and the mechanisms whereby support can be obtained. We very much encourage applications for support from those countries who may benefit from this input into National Society meetings or workshops.

J. Kevin Chipman
Chair, IUTOX Education Commission

Guidelines for Support to Member Societies

Purpose:
The purpose of this initiative is to enhance the development of toxicology in these counties through the provision of education and transfer of expertise from those countries in which toxicology is more advanced. Each year, IUTOX can provide limited support in the form of lectures from experts in a range of toxicology areas for inclusion in National Toxicology Society Meetings in countries in which toxicology is underrepresented.

Eligible activities include:

• Support of a visiting delegate to assist in workshops aimed at formation of new local toxicology societies.
• Support of visiting lecturer(s) to contribute to education courses, lectures and symposia associated with National meetings of a) an existing member society b) organisations that show potential for development into a National Toxicology Society.
• Programmes will only be supported if the Scientific Programme of the entire meeting/workshop can be seen, amended if necessary, and approved by IUTOX.

Level of Support for Programmes:

Historically, each CE course has cost around $3000-$5000. It is therefore anticipated that an “average” programme might provide one or two speakers/contributors and generally two CE courses plus one workshop contribution per year.

Nature of Topics:

The topics of any presentations should be linked closely to the nature of the scientific meeting and the specific needs of the country (including an address in the language of the host country if possible). The speaker list should be identified by the Education Commission members in consultation with any relevant funding body.

Two deadlines for applications per year will operate (June 1st and December 1st).

Member News

IUTOX Member Society Highlights:

French Society of Toxicology (Société Française de Toxicologie)

The French SOT, called SFT ("Société Française de Toxicologie," Web site www.sftox.com) was founded in 1974. The first annual meeting was organized in 1975, and it has been a member society of EUROTOX since its creation in 1989.

The SFT has around 450 members from academia, private companies, regulatory agencies, and public research institutes, whose 116 are recognized as "European Registered Toxicologists" (ERT).

The Executive Committee is composed of:
President: Dr. Frédéric Lacheretz ;
Past-President: Pr Edmond Creppy ;
Vice-Presidents: Pr Georges Lagier and Pr Bertrand Rihn ;
Secretary General, and deputies: Dr. Nancy Claude, and Dr. Philippe Bourrinet and Pr Martine Kolf-Clauw ;

Treasurer, and Deputy: Dr Stéphane de Jouffrey, and Pr Dominique Parent-Massin.

The French SOT is an independent and nonprofit organization created in order to facilitate scientific exchange among the various domains of toxicology and related disciplines by:

Organizing scientific meetings: Workshops and annual meetings are organized on a semester basis and once a year, respectively. Workshops are dedicated to training or updating in a specific and focused topic, as for example in 2005 "Environmental Risk Assessment" and "New Trends in Toxicokinetics," while the annual meeting is intended to develop full sessions on a more general subject like "Drugs in Pediatrics," "Biomarkers in Toxicology," or "Allergy and Xenobiotics" in 2003, 2004, and 2005, respectively.

Encouraging education in toxicology: Grants are provided under certain circumstances to students who need some financial help to complete a PhD or to present a poster in an international meeting.

Reinforcing links with other national societies in toxicology: SFT has initiated the creation of a French network in building the French Federation of Toxicology (Web site www.FFTox.fr) whose aim is to gather all the specialized societies involved in toxicology. The rationale is to give full opportunities to exchange and address issues and suggest solutions on topics involving preclinical and clinical toxicologists, generalists and specialists like repro-toxicologists or geno-toxicologists, and in various fields of investigation such as drugs, cosmetics, and food.

Working with any other relevant national society: Since toxicology cannot be considered as an isolated science, the French SOT organizes a common session within the annual meeting of the French Society of Pharmacology.

Establishing a national committee for ERT admission: The French SOT board has the responsibility, at a national level, to select candidates seeking EUROTOX recognition and obtaining the title of "European Registered Toxicologist" (ERT) for a 5-year period.

Maintaining the SFT Web site: The French SOT Web site (www.sftox.com) provides information on toxicology in France including meetings and workshops, memberships, EUROTOX recognition, grants for students, open positions, etc.

German Toxicology Society

The German Toxicology Society (GTS), formed as an independent organization in the spring of 2003, has 940 members. However, the history of German Toxicology Society as a member of the German Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology (DGPT) is in fact much longer. DGPT has 2500 member and was founded as a scientific body of German pharmacologists in 1920 (Deutsche Pharmakologische Gesellschaft). In early 1960 it became evident that toxicology had to deal with its own issues. Since then the toxicology group within the DGPT began to organize itself in working groups with its own activities. A few years later a section of toxicology was organized within the German Pharmacology Society. Years later another subgroup, Clinical Pharmacology, started to organize themselves as a section within the Society. This was the starting point for rearrangement into the three sections, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Clinical Pharmacology and thus the name, the German Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology.

All three disciplines have formed independent scientific Societies but continue to have a strong collaboration under the umbrella organization, The German Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology. The annual meetings are held together.

The vision of the Germany Society of Toxicology (GTS) is to be the leading force for toxicology in Germany, to advance toxicological science in Germany and to serve for better human, animal, and environmental health (www.toxikologie.de). GTS is a member of the International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX) and EUROTOX and supports the activities of both organizations by many individuals who actively participate in these organizations.

The mission of GTS is to support the scientific and professional development of its members. During the annual meeting, Continuing Education Courses (CECs) are organized and are well attended. For more than fifteen years members of GTS in universities have run a postgraduate educational program in toxicology, which is supported by toxicologists from industry and government. The program consists of fifteen one/two week courses followed by exams on all topics that are relevant for a balanced toxicological expertise. This program is the basic requirement to qualify for the final exam for the degree of a “Fachtoxikologe DGPT” which is accepted as a EUROTOX registered toxicologist. All successful candidates are registered as Toxicologists DGPT.

Future challenges of GTS are to participate within the chemical world by promoting scientific discussion and qualification of its members. GTS has special working groups on metabolism, immunotoxicology, toxicology in environmental health, regulatory toxicology and has organized an information network of experts. GTS has strong relations and official liaisons to other toxicological societies such as Society of Clinical Toxicology; Society of Toxicological and Forensic Chemistry; and Subgroup Ecotoxicology and Environmental Chemistry in GdCH.

Contact persons are:
Heidi Foth, Prof Dr. (President of GTS, email: heidi.foth@medizin.uni-halle.de)
Peter Kramer, Dr. (Vice president of GTS, email: peter.kramer@merck.de)
Secretary General of GTS/DGPT contact by www.dgpt-online.de
Submitted by
Heidi Foth
President of German Toxicology Society
President of DGPT

Clinical Toxicology in Germany

The following focus highlights the activities of members of the German Society of Toxicology (GTS) in Clinical Toxicology and gives on overview on the present situation in Germany. This report is from Herbert Desel and Georg Friedrich Kahl, Clinical Toxicology Laboratory and GIZ-Nord Poisons Centre, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Georg-August-University Göttingen, University Hospital, D-37099 Göttingen, Germany (www.giz-nord.de, Email: hdesel@med.uni-goettingen.de).

Introduction

The exact number of patients suffering from poisonings per year in Germany is unknown. Similar to most other countries, the vast majority of xenobiotics-related deaths are caused by chronic exposures, mainly to tobacco smoke (more than 100.000 deaths per year) and diesel fuel emissions (more than 9.000 deaths per year).

Institutions and professionals working in Clinical Toxicology preferentially deal with acute poisonings. Exposures to overdoses of ethanol (unknown number of cases), drugs of abuse (about 1500 deaths per year), fire smoke (about 500 deaths per year), and overdoses of medical drugs (10,000–20,000 cases per year, about 100 deaths) show the highest frequencies.

Treatment of Poisoned Patients
Treatment Facilities

Family doctors usually take care of the mildly poisoned patients. Severe intoxications are primarily treated by doctors trained in emergency medicine at the patient’s home or at the workplace before they are transported to a hospital. Almost all emergency units and the majority of intensive care units (ICU) treat intoxications. There are 3 ICUs in Germany (in Berlin, Mainz, and Munich) with primary focus on toxicological cases.

Education of Specialists

There is no educational degree in clinical toxicology for medical doctors in Germany. Therefore, doctors treating poisoned patients are not formally educated in clinical toxicology, but in emergency medicine or internal medicine. Pediatricians usually treat poisoned children. Professional advice on cases of high risk or rare poisonings is frequently provided by specially trained medical doctors in German poisons information centers.

Poison Information and Surveillance System

The Chemicals Act (Chemikaliengesetz) provides the legal basis for the establishment and maintenance of poisons information centers (PICs, Giftinformationszentren) by all federal states (Länder) of Germany. The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) collect and distribute data on hazardous products and poisoning risks.

Poisons Information Centers (Giftinformationszentren) in Germany

The basic functions of the PICs as described (and ordered) by law are collecting data on frequencies and causes of intoxications in Germany and reporting these data to the BfR, and giving advice in all cases of poisoning to the public and to medical professionals.

In addition, PICs work in prevention of poisoning. They teach clinical toxicology to medical professionals and to the public and prepare toxicological expert’s reports. Most PICs are involved in scientific projects by documenting important intoxications in the medical literature.All 16 federal states of Germany have officially notified PICs. Some states have one PIC (or even 2 PICs) providing service only for one state while most other Länder have recently founded PICs serving two to four states together. In total ten German PICs are on duty, twenty four hours per day (further information see: www.giftinformationszentrum.de).

Only medical doctors, primarily educated and experienced in different medical disciplines, provide advice by telephone, email, fax, or traditional mail. Typical consultations include all aspects of poisonings, e.g. identification of product and its ingredients, risk assessment, and recommendations for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Cases with rare poisons or new products are documented carefully by follow up calls. All consultations are integrated in a database and analysed for frequencies and poisoning trends. Most German PICs regularly produce annual reports; a national report for 2004 is in preparation.

German PICs report to the BfR, regularly by providing annual reports and additionally by case series requested on purpose.

Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung, BfR, www.bfr.bund.de)
The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has important legal functions in the handling of poisoning risk: it collects data on consumer products on the German market, especially those that have to be labelled as caustic (or toxic) as notified by companies. This data is distributed monthly to all PICs.

Furthermore, all medical doctors who treat patients poisoned with chemicals (and many other poisonous products except medical drugs) have to report clinical data of these cases to the BfR. However, annual reports of this data collection show that only a small fraction of all cases is reported.

Until 2002, the preceding institute of the BfR hosted the Committee on Detection and Treatment of Acute Poisonings (“Giftkommission”), a group of experts from poisons centers, toxicology and clinical departments with broad experience in clinical toxicology. This committee has developed 800 monographs on poisonous substances and antidotes in the German language that have been distributed to the PICs. Unfortunately, this work has been discontinued.

Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit, BVL, www.bvl.bund.de)
The Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) also has functions in the management of acute poisonings. By law, it has to collect data on all cosmetic products on the German market as notified by companies. This data is another important tool for consultations in the PICs. In addition, information on poisoning risks from food, exchanged between European authorities via the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), is delivered to all German PICs daily.

Toxicological Documentation and Information Network (Toxikologischer Dokumentations- und Informationsverbund, TDI, www.tdi-network.org)

TDI Research Project
The Toxicological Documentation and Information Network (TDI) was initiated and is sponsored as a research and development project since 1999 by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Natural Conservation, and Nuclear Safety. Within this project, a computer network system has been developed for automatic transfer of data between industrial companies and PICs on consumer products using a European standard format (EAPCCT) (in the beginning mainly on household cleaning product and biocides). Tools developed in the project include a detailed description of a protocol for data distribution between multiple senders and several independent receivers (allowing transfer of document add-ons and corrections), a product data exchange format RML (Rosetta Markup Language), a data acquisition program for companies and database software for PICs.

TDI–IT Network
The TDI networking system has been in place since 2003. Data of more than 1500 products have been distributed between all German PICs that use the TDI database daily for data retrieval.

Society of Clinical Toxicology (Gesellschaft für Klinische Toxikologie, GfKT, www.klinitox.de)
The Society for Clinical Toxicology, GfKT, is the association of professionals in clinical toxicology from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. The GfKT organizes annual meetings on quality control and quality assurance in (German speaking) PICs (visited also by doctors from poisoning treatment facilities).

GfKT committees are working on development of poison information monographs on medical drugs, on quality control in PIC work, on cooperation with non-medical experts on mushrooms, and on detection of frequent causes of lethal intoxications.

Laboratories with Toxicology Services
Many hospital laboratories provide analytics for poisonings. Besides determination of blood ethanol, immunochemical assays on drugs of abuse are available in almost every lab. Assays for determination of medical drugs with low therapeutic index, e.g. digitoxin, carbamazepin, or valproate, in blood plasma are available in larger hospitals.

Other important toxicological tests, i.e. assay on amanitins (toxins from Amanita phalloides mushrooms), on paracetamol, methanol, ethylene glycol or glycol ethers, are only available in about 10 –20 laboratories in the whole country. Moreover, only a few laboratories are able to detect rare poisons using chromatographic methods or providing systematic toxicological analyses, i.e., screening for primarily unknown substances in body fluids preferentially using mass selective detection after chromatographic separation of compounds.

Society of Toxicological and Forensic Chemistry (Gesellschaft für Toxikologische und Forensische Chemie, GTFCh, www.gtfch.org)
The Society on Toxicological and Forensic Chemistry (GTFCh) is the association for German speaking experts for chemical analyses in cases of poisoning or drug abuse. The GTFCh organizes biannual meetings and contributes regularly to conferences organized by other organizations, e.g. the biannual Analytica in Munich. Several guidelines on analytical procedures have been developed and are available from the GTFCh Web site (partly in English translation).

The Committee on Clinical Toxicology of the GTFCh was established by about 30 professionals involved in emergency analyses to support diagnosis and treatment of acute poisonings in 5 countries in Middle Europe. Beside other activities the committee is developing a database on availability of toxicological laboratories and analyses and a database containing information on pharmacokinetic/toxicokinetic data. Recent topics are validation of methods for emergency analyses for rare poisons and toxicological analyses for patients with suspected brain death.

European Collaboration
Many professionals in clinical toxicology from Germany are personal members of the European Association for Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicology (EAPCCT, www.eapcct.org) and contribute regularly to the annual scientific EAPCCT congresses.

Clinical toxicologists from Germany are working intensively in several projects in cooperation within the European Union and with other European states.

The Argentine Toxicological Association

Argentina was the first country in Latin America to have a scientific society in the field of Toxicology and one of the earliest in the developing world at that time.

In 1979, the Argentine Society of Toxicology was formally founded as an interdisciplinary scientific society. The aims of the Society include organization and promotion of scientific research in the field of toxicology; dissemination of research results in toxicology and related fields; informing the public about current toxicological issues; and representing our scientific community in matters related to toxicology issues in Argentina and abroad. A few years after its creation, our Society became a member of IUTOX. In 1987, it was renamed as The Argentine Toxicological Association.

The scientific activity encompasses all areas of toxicology, including environmental, industrial, clinical, forensic and veterinary toxicology, toxicological biochemistry, toxicological analysis, regulatory toxicology, and others.

Altogether, the Society has more than 300 members. The current president is Prof. Osvaldo H. Curci, from the Faculty of Medicine at Buenos Aires University. The board of directors of the Argentine Toxicological Association well represents the diversity of professional activity involved in the members, and coordinates the activities of the several sections, such as the Commission of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Toxicology, the Commission Clinical Toxicology, and the Commission for Education.

Since 1993, the Society has been publishing its own scientific journal, Acta Toxicologica Argentina. Its main purpose is the publication, either in Spanish, English or Portuguese, of original contributions in the various fields of toxicology. All aspects are covered, including mechanistical, clinical, quantitative toxicological, and epidemiological studies, as well environmental and ecotoxicology oriented work. Appearing twice a year, the journal is dedicated to excellence and in-depth reporting, in the form of original research articles, short communications or review articles.

Another regular publication is ATA Informa, a quarterly newsletter, containing news and general information to members, appearing both in paper and electronic format. The contact with the members is also achieved by a very active e-mailing network, the REDARTOX, a successful initiative of our Ministry of Health operating since 1995.

The Turkish Society of Toxicology

The Turkish Society of Toxicology has elected the new executive committee for the next two years on 19th of October 2005.

President
Pof. Dr. Sema Burgaz
Toxicology Department
Faculty of Pharmacy
Gazi University
06330 Etiler-Ankara/TURKEY
Tel:+90-312-2150105
Fax:+90-312-2222326
e-mail:burgaz@gazi.edu.tr

Secretary General
Assoc. Prof. Hilmi Orhan
Toxicology Department
Faculty of Pharmacy
Hacettepe University
06370 Ankara/TURKEY
Tel:+90-312-3092958
Fax:+90-312-3114777
e-mail:hilmi@tr.net

The Chinese Society of Toxicology

The Chinese Society of Toxicology (CST) was founded on November 10, 1993 in Beijing. Now CST is one of the member societies of IUTOX as well as ASIATOX. The purpose of CST is (1) to foster scientific co-operation and academic exchange among Chinese toxicologists, (2) to promote progress in the toxicological sciences in China, and (3) to advance public health and environment protection in China. Professor De-chang Wu from the Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine was elected as the first and the second president (1993-2001) of CST. Professor Chang-qing Ye was the third president (2001-2005) of the society.

CST is composed of eighteen branches, i.e. The Branches of Analytical Toxicology, Biotoxin Toxicology, Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology, Clinical Toxicology, Drug Dependence Toxicology, Ecological Toxicology, Feed Toxicology, Food Toxicology, Genetic Toxicology, Industrial Toxicology, Immuno-toxicology, Military Toxicology, Radiation Toxicology, Regulatory Toxicology, Reproductive Toxicology, Toxicology History, Veterinary Toxicology, and Poisoning and Treatment. There are more than 1,500 Chinese toxicologists registered in the CST. The current council (2005~2009) of CST was elected on September 20, 2005 in Shenyang. There are 83 council members in CST. Professor Zhi-Xiong Zhuang is the president and Professor Ping-kun Zhou serves as the standing vice president and secretary general.
CST organizes the Chinese National Congress of Toxicology once every four years. The Fourth National Congress of the Chinese Society of Toxicology was held in September 19-21, 2005, in Shenyang. CST has also hosted the 1st and 3rd Strait Bilateral Symposium on Toxicology in Nanjing (2001) and in Shenyang (2003), respectively. In 2002, the first China-Japan Joint Congress on Toxicology and Pharmacology (CJJCTP) was successfully co-hosted by Chinese Society of Toxicology and Japanese Society of Toxicology in Shenzhen. In 2003, CST in collaboration with IUTOX successfully hosted the 5th Congress of Toxicology in Developing Countries (5CTDC) in Guilin.

The address of CST Office: The office of the Chinese Society of Toxicology, 27 Taiping Road, Haidian district, Beijing 100850, P. R. China. Phone: +86-10-66932387; Fax: +86-10-68183899; E-mail: chntox@nic.bmi.ac.cn; Website: www.chntox.org

Logo Contest: Opportunity for Toxicology Students to Help the Toxicology Education Foundation (TEF)

The Toxicology Education Foundation (TEF) invites toxicology students to submit a design for a new TEF logo. The contest is open to any toxicology student.The prize for the winning design is US $250. For more details, go to www.tox-edfoundation.org.

TEF is dedicated to increasing public understanding of toxicology and promoting, encouraging, and supporting educational activities and programs about toxicology. The foundation’s primary project at this time is production of a video to help the public better understand chemical and drug safety. Other TEF projects have included funding development and dissemination of materials for classroom science instruction, supporting science teacher development workshops, and providing travel funding for students to attend international meetings. More information about TEF and TEF projects can be found at www.tox-edfoundation.org.

The logo should reflect the overall mission of the Foundation and convey the importance and dynamic nature of toxicology. Color choices are the option of the designer. The contest is open to any student in toxicology. Students may submit up to 3 designs for consideration.

Deadline: Postmark dated in 2005 (On or before December 31, 2005)

Directions for Submission:

Submit two files of the logo, a color version and the same image in black and white, in a format that is compatible for use in Microsoft Word documents (pdf, jpg, gif, tiff, eps, etc.) E-mail the files to tefhq@tox-edfoundation.org, subject line “Logo Contest.”

Include the following information:
Name of designer
School affiliation and student status (Program and year of study)
Complete mailing address
Phone number
E-mail address

Designer Statement
“By submitting this design, I give the Toxicology Education Foundation (TEF) exclusive worldwide right and license to reproduce, copy, and publish the logo in any and all media (including but not limited to electronic and print). I represent and warrant that this submission is my own original and creative work and I have the authority to grant exclusive license for this design to the TEF. Further, I attest that exercise of the exclusive rights to use this material by TEF will not infringe any other person’s or entity’s copyrights or other proprietary rights.”

TEF will request a photo and biographical information from the chosen designer for use in publicity related to the selection of the logo. Credit will appear on the TEF Web site and in other uses as appropriate.

IUTOX Institutional Members

At the 2004 IUTOX General Assembly, a dues rate of $1500 was established for a new category of membership: Institutional Membership. IUTOX Institutional Members demonstrate commitment to toxicology and aid IUTOX in funding its outreach programs. Following, is a list of IUTOX Institutional Members:

Cantox Health Science International
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co.
Environ International
L'OREAL
Pfizer Global Research and Development
TAP Pharmaceutical Products

Awards and Fellowships

International Union of Toxicology Merit Award

The IUTOX Merit Award is presented to an individual in recognition of a long and distinguished career in toxicology at the international level. Achievements in academia, public service or industry may be recognized. Emphasis should be on contributions that have strengthened the field of toxicology. The award consists of a plaque and a cash stipend.

Past IUTOX Merit Award Winners:

2004 IUTOX Merit Award: Iain Purchase
2001 IUTOX Merit Award: José Castro
1998 IUTOX Merit Award: Seymour Friess

Application Process:

Applications for the IUTOX Merit Award should be submitted to the Secretary-General, IUTOX, IUTOX Headquarters: 1821 Michael Faraday Drive, Suite 300, Reston, VA 20190 or by e-mail (iutoxhq@iutox.org).

IUTOX Merit Award applications must reach IUTOX by February 1 of the year in which an International Congress of Toxicology is held and must include, at a minimum, the following information:

1. nominating letters from two IUTOX member Societies;
2. a brief statement detailing how the nominee has made international contributions to the development of toxicology;
3. a current curriculum vitae of no more than 5 pages (list at a minimum your 5 best publications).

Calendar of Upcoming Meetings and Member Meeting News

• IUTOX Meetings
• Members Society Meetings

• IUTOX Newsletter Spring 2005
• IUTOX Newsletter Fall 2004
• IUTOX Newsletter 2002–2003
• IUTOX Newsletter June 2001
• IUTOX Newsletter May 2000