[Toxic compounds in our environment--challenge or cost of prosperity]

The goal of this contribution was the description of the possibilities as well as the limitations to which a toxicologist is confronted when evaluating potential toxic compounds to which human beings can be exposed during their lifetime. The number of substances is overwhelming. The available methods for the evaluation are not satisfactory for everybody. Nevertheless, the results are not as bad as sometimes is asserted: in the industrial societies, the expected life span of men increases. The evaluation of the effects is unsatisfactory especially for the carcinogenic and allergic potential of foreign compounds. This is the consequence of our limited knowledge about the biological processes underlaying these effects, or, in other words, research must be intensified in this field. Finally, the experiences of the public as well as of the media with risks and their evaluation are not satisfactorily developed. The intellectual development of the public is rather slow compared to that in business life and economics. This means that everybody oughts to acquire knowledge in order to be able to make appropriate decisions in a world increasingly complicated. Otherwise, our society ends up with a convenient home for the aged combined with a cemetery. And this, by the way, is less than a recreation center (Freizeitpark).