Dose Makes the Poison: A Plain-Language Guide to Toxicology [Hardcover]

M. Alice Ottoboni (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1991 | ISBN-10: 0442006608 | ISBN-13: 978-0442006600 | Edition: 2

The revised and reorganized second edition of this well-known and widely acclaimed reference on toxicology shows how to quickly determine the extent of the hazards posed by chemicals in the general environment and the workplace. The first six chapters provide an introduction to the nature of chemicals. There follows in-depth discussions of the routes of chemical exposure, differences in species, age, sex, health and nutrition as well as individual susceptibilities. All current toxicological issues are covered, including PCBs, Agent Orange, formaldehyde, and carcinogens. The second edition also features an expanded epidemiology section and the experimental and analytical methods are now organized in a single chapter. Moreover, important topical issues such as risk and the public distrust of science are addressed. This book should be of interest to environmental engineers; hazardous material managers and legal personnel dealing with tort.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Alice Ottoboni's second edition of "The Dose Makes The Poison", a "plain language guide to toxicology" is must reading for every industrial hygienist, client, employer, and daily contact of the industrial hygienist. Ottoboni takes us on a well organized tour of toxicology in layman's terms. The distinctions between poison, toxicity and hazard are sharply drawn. Thorough explanations of factors that influence toxicity are included. Cogent examples using using everday items like foods which contain toxic materials (caffeine in coffee, solanine in potatoes, or ethanol in vodka) make clear the ability of the body to handle divided doses. Dr. Ottoboni helps us understand the difference between the trauma we cause from a needless fear of a chemical than the trauma we cause when we permit exposure to toxicologically significant amounts of that chemical. -- Dr. H. L. Kusnetz, past president of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and the American Academy of Industrial Hygiene (AAIH) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

The Dose Makes the Poison A Plain-Language Guide to Toxicology Second Edition M. Alice Ottoboni Increasing media coverage of reports on the effects of chemicals, new recognition within government and industry of the need to protect against exposure, and other current issues are elevating the public’s concern about the health effects of synthetic chemicals in our environment. Unfortunately, much of this concern is based more on sensational news reports and half-truths than on scientific facts. This second edition of a widely read and highly acclaimed work reviews and explains the facts of chemical dangers in a clear and understandable manner. It objectively discusses the factors determining whether chemicals in our air, food, and water are harmful or harmless, and puts the dose - response relationship of chemicals in proper perspective. Effects of chemicals encountered at home and at work are presented in layman’s language to assure understanding without having to turn to other references. Thoughtful discussions of controversial issues help you to understand news media reports on toxicology, avoid the half-truths that lead to "poison paranoia," and make informed judgments about our use and control of chemicals. Extensively revised, the second edition is also reorganized to expedite access to specific information. All experimental and analytical methods are in one section, and references to the origins of toxicology and regulation of chemicals are in another separate section to improve ease of reading. In addition, coverage of subjects such as public distrust of science, epidemiology, reproductive toxicology, and risk have been expanded to provide a better understanding of the relationship of toxicology to current environmental problems. All aspects of exposure and its effects are reviewed, including

• How chemicals cause harm—toxicity, sensitization, corrosiveness, irritation, radioactivity, and other properties
• Routes of exposure—skin, inhalation, oral, and combinations
• Factors that influence degree of toxicity—species, age, sex, nutrition, state of health, presence of other chemicals, adaptation, and possibly, light
• Chemicals that cause cancer and birth defects

Chapters on toxicity of chemicals address no-effect levels and thresholds, margins of safety, and bioaccumulation. You’ll see how the effects of chemicals are studied and how health problems are traced to environmental causes. Also clarified are differences between actual risk and perceived risk of various chemicals. With the media presenting us daily with new findings on chemical risks, this book provides a welcome "antidote" to the confusion. The Dose Makes the Poison is an easy-to-read review of toxicology that has become "required reading" for scientists and managers throughout industry; public health officials; environmental scientists; industrial hygienists; hazardous waste workers ; and anyone who wishes to improve his or her understanding of toxic chemicals without taking the time to go back to school. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc; 2 edition (January 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0442006608
• ISBN-13: 978-0442006600
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,596,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Useful book, plodding effort, April 16, 2002

By 

Nicolas S. Martin (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dose Makes the Poison: A Plain-Language Guide to Toxicology, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

Dr. Ottoboni has two simple objectives in writing this book: to descibe the basics of toxicology and to refute unscientific views about chemicals and their toxicity that lead to unwarranted scares. She accomplishes her goals, but with some discomfort for the reader. Her style is that of a didactic bureaucrat and there are many words that could have been trimmed by an assertive editor. Considering the technical nature of the book and its many scientific assertions, it is inexcusable that the book has no footnotes. Apparently the reader is supposed to accept her declarations at face value. Ottoboni occasionially falls into a trap that she herself warns against by commenting about issues on which he has no expertise. She says, for instance, that the "medical profession now generally accepts the premise that stress can exert a profound influence on the course of many illnesses. Stress can actually be an etiologic (causitive) agent for some cases of such diseases as high blood pressure, ulcers, allergies, colitis, and even cancer." Unfortunately for her, the fact that it was generally accepted did not make it true that ulcers are caused by stress. They are now known to be caused by a bacteria and the former claim that they were caused by stress is a major embarassment to medicine, which made this bogus claim in lieu of proof. It is also highly contestable that the other diseases she names are actually caused by stress, and she offers no evidence for her claim. (Medicine has a tragic history of attributing many diseases to emotional disorder, not the least of which was epilepsy, but Ottoboni shows no awareness of this.) Ottoboni should have restricted herself to what is proven, not what is "accepted." When she writes that "an authority in one field is not, of necessity, an authority in all of the others" she should have understood that that also applies to herself. Instead of this expensive book I would suggest a couple of very well written and documented books that go at the same issues from different perspectives. The first is Edith Efron's "The Apocalyptics : How Environmental Politics Controls What We Know About Cancer," and the second is the recent book, "The Skeptical Environmentalist," by Bjorn Lomborg. Both are superb, readable and worth buying. Borrow the Ottoboni book from the library.

Update: This review is for the second edition. I see now that a third edition has been published which no longer mentions stress as a cause of ulcers. It also shows that Dr. Ottoboni has taken on a co-author, so perhaps it addresses my criticisms. I'll give it a read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Big words made clear, November 25, 2011

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dose Makes the Poison: A Plain-Language Guide to Toxicology (Paperback)

(What's this?)

This book is an introduction to the field of toxicology written for informed audiences who may not have a background in science. Frank is a toxicology consultant who works in the field of pharmaceutical registration. Ottoboni is a toxicologist for the California State Department of Public Health and the author of previous editions of this book. The book's topics include the following: what are chemicals, what harm do chemicals cause, what is toxicology and how is it studied, mutagenesis, carcinogenesis, and reproductive toxicity, epidemiology, and the study of risk. End material includes a brief bibliography, a list of abbreviations, a glossary, and an explanation of moles and Avogadro's number. The text is illustrated with a few photographs, illustrations, graphs, and chemical diagrams.

I found this book quite clear and accessible, even though the material covered can be rather complex. The authors' descriptions of such topics as LD50 or the importance of routes of exposure are quite easy to follow and helpful for making sense of toxicology reports. As I read through the book, however, I kept getting the sense of a hidden agenda: virtually all the examples and discussion point out that toxins aren't as dangerous as people might think. The authors even note how the tragedy of the Bhopal disaster was due to shoddy manufacturing processes, not the pesticides being produced. This claim may be true, but there certainly must be other cases where pesticides and other poisons have caused demonstrable harm to humans; however, such examples are never brought out in this text. Readers are cautioned to note the source and quality of toxicity information they encounter, and to avoid exaggerated ire from anti-chemical demagogues, but the importance of carefully examining and perhaps discounting research supported by industry giants showing the supposed safety of their products is avoided in this text.

Risk assessment, one of the key foundations of toxicology, receives only a brief discussion at the end of the book. It would have been useful to have a little more in-depth coverage of this topic, or at least a practical example or two. Overall, the information in the book seems to be accurate. But there is an odd claim towards the end of the book, "there are no documented cases of human cancer from exposure to trace quantities of chemical carcinogens." What about arsenic in drinking water? Given long enough exposures, arsenic at concentrations of 50 ppb, or perhaps even less, is associated with increased risk of skin, lung, bladder, liver, prostrate, and breast cancer; such exposures, and their resultant cancers, are becoming more common as populations shift to drinking groundwater without prior testing for toxic metals. Perhaps the authors meant that, as with tobacco, no particular case of cancer can be specifically linked to a particular exposure, or that a single exposure to a trace quantity of toxin does not lead to cancer; at the very least, the statement is unclear, ambiguous, or misleading, given the clear links between chronic exposures to trace quantities of certain chemicals and cancer. Thus, while the book is informative and clear, readers should keep in mind a possible bias towards understating the dangers of chemicals.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening, with some blind spots of its own, December 20, 2011

By 

Jennifer Mo - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dose Makes the Poison: A Plain-Language Guide to Toxicology (Paperback)

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I have a longstanding interest in poison, and picked up The Dose Makes the Poison right on the heels of finishing Deborah Blum's The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. Although the subject matter and a few case studies overlap, they couldn't have been more different. The Dose Makes the Poison is not entertaining popular science or even particularly entertaining. It's exactly what it claims to be: a crash course in toxicology for the interested layman.

As such, it is thorough, knowledgeable, and reads like an introductory science textbook. (It took me over a month to get through it.) M. Alice Ottoboni, a toxicologist with the CA Dept of Public Health, and Patricia Frank, a toxicological consultant for the pharmaceutical industry, undeniably know their stuff as they lay out the principles behind toxicology, experimental methods, risk assessment, etc. The writing is clear, if dry, and fairly easy to understand. At times, the book does come off as a tad condescending. Although geared for the general public, the authors don't think much of us, characterizing us as irrational and prone to hysterical responses. This might be true, but it's hardly the most persuasive way to educate us!

For a science book, it also comes across as a bit defensive and leans pro-industry. I was startled by the seemingly random defense of plastic in the opening chapters in which the authors conclude that it's the public's responsibility to cut up six pack rings to protect sea animals, not industry's to come up with safer packaging. I agree in theory, but the participation rate in even basic recycling programs doesn't bode well for the effectiveness of this approach. In a different example on labeling, Ottoboni and Frank show that regulation is more effective than education, yet the emphasis throughout is squarely on educating the public on risk assessment. Given how much of the book is devoted to showing how difficult it is to produce scientifically sound conclusions about chemical risk, I'm surprised by how little space the precautionary principle gets.

The Dose Makes the Poison makes a strong case that public hysteria over most chemicals is scientifically unjustified and gives us tools for evaluating alarming headlines and chemicals in our own lives. Yet I'm not sure it presents a full picture. The authors concede that our current tests may not pick up all the effects of chemicals or show how they interact, but the overall message is that a substance is probably of negligible toxicity unless definitively proven otherwise. It's a valid view point, but I would be interested to see how a toxicologist from a different background, say the EPA, would respond.

The chapter on experimental methods was difficult for me to get through. I'm not categorically opposed to animal testing for medical purposes, and the authors present good reasons to continue to use animals due to the scale of the experiments needed, but I was taken aback by how high the cost of toxicological knowledge is. The authors also defend cosmetic animal testing, including the infamous rabbit eye tests, as necessary for our safety. The question they don't ask is whether some types of knowledge do not justify the cost, especially since we already have so many well-tested, effective ingredients to use in non-essential cosmetics.

I have definite ideological differences with the authors, and they color this review, but in all fairness, The Dose Makes the Poison offers a thoughtful perspective on the widespread panic over chemicals. I agree that rational, informed decisions are better than automatic condemnation of chemicals, but I also think it's possible to come to different conclusions than the authors do about what role (and how big) we want chemicals to play in our lives.