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High Content Screening Analysis to Evaluate the Toxicological Effects of Harmful and Potentially Harmful Constituents (HPHC)
Published on: May 10, 2016
[What is a "poison"? Proposal of definition]
Raimon Guitart1, Nuria Giménez
1Laboratorio de Toxicología, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, España. raimon.guitart@uab.cat
Abstract:
We discuss different interpretations of the term poison as well as the need of bringing up to date the changes in this matter according to the science progress. A clear and exact definition is proposed after analysing the factors that affect the relativity of the concept and its boundaries. The proposal for a definition is presented taking into account the most broadly extended concepts concerning its significance. That is to say: "a poison is, for human beings and their non-pathogenic and non-harmful biological environment, an electromagnetic or corpuscular radiation, or a non-infectious chemical agent, structured no larger in size than a small particle or fibre that, after being generated internally or after contact, penetration and/or absorption by a live organism, in sufficiently high dose, can produce or produces a direct or indirect adverse effect unrelated to its temperature or measurable electrical potential difference". The scientific knowledge needs accurate definitions to avoid ambiguities.
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