Screening for the safety of chemicals

It will be obvious that the screening of chemicals is a multidisciplinary exercise involving toxicologists, chemists and occupational physicians. The variety of means available whereby chemicals are screened, indicate that no single test is adequate. While in vivo and in vitro test methods have an important role in screening, there must be knowledge of the chemical and physical properties of the chemical. Similarly, an awareness of the possibility of human exposure must exist. The occupational physician should play a coordinating role in this exercise which is, after all, designed to protect human health. No matter how useful the animal tests, the short term tests, the study of the shape of the molecule and so on, no real assessment of the situation can be made unless there is a careful examination of the proposed process in which it is intended to use the chemical, so that the possibility of human exposure and, hence, hazard can be assessed.