Environmental toxicology

Environmental toxicology is a multidisciplinary discipline of research that focuses on the study of the potentially hazardous effects that a wide range of chemical, biological, and physical agents may have on living organisms. The study of the detrimental effects of toxicants at the population and ecological levels is the focus of the ecotoxicology subfield of the environmental toxicology science.

Rachel Carson is regarded as the "mother" of environmental toxicology due to the fact that she established environmental toxicology as a sub-discipline within the larger field of toxicology in 1962 with the publication of her book Silent Spring, which discussed the adverse effects of unrestricted use of pesticides. Lucille Farrier Stickel's series of studies on the effects of the insecticide DDT on the environment served as a significant source of information for Rachel Carson's book.

At any point in their life cycle, organisms may be exposed to a wide variety of toxicants, of which some are more hazardous to their health than others. The position of the organism within its food web might also affect the level of toxicity it has. The process of bioaccumulation happens when an organism accumulates hazardous substances in fatty tissues. This may ultimately lead to the establishment of a trophic cascade as well as the biomagnification of certain poisonous substances. Carbon dioxide and water are two of the by-products that are released into the environment when something biodegrades. This technique is often restricted in geographic locations that are impacted by environmental toxicants.

The detrimental impacts of chemical and biological agents such as toxicants found in pollutants, insecticides, pesticides, and fertilisers may have an impact on an organism and its community by diminishing the species variety and abundance of the organism's community. These kinds of shifts in population dynamics have an effect on the environment by lowering its productivity and level of stability.

Despite the fact that legislation enacted since the early 1970s had the intention of minimising the harmful effects of environmental toxicants upon all species, McCarty (2013) has issued this warning.