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Issue 9
10th
May 2010
C&I Magazine
C&I MagazineThe leading source of news and opinion in the arena of chemical technology
Cover Story
Relations between the automotive and chemical industries have reached an
impasse, but, as Thorsten Ploss explains, there may be a way forward
News
Emma Dorey,
10/05/2010
Product supply problems continue
to cause trouble for Genzyme. The
biotech firm has told the European
Medicines Agency’s Committee
for Medicinal Products for Human
Use (CHMP) to expect shortages of
Cerezyme and Fabrazyme until at
least the end of September 2010.
Neil Eisberg,
10/05/2010
The global pharmaceutical market will
grow by almost $300bn over the next
five years to reach $1.1tr in 2014,
according to estimates in the latest
IMS Health Prognosis.
Features
Trevor Keel,
10/05/2010
Gold nanoparticle-based technologies are showing promise in providing cost effective
solutions for environmentally important issues from greener production
methods to pollution control and water purification, writes Trevor Keel
Steven Kildea,
10/05/2010
First came the potato blight, but could wheat be Ireland’s next major
crop to succumb to uncontrollable fungal infection? writes Steven Kildea
Editor's Blog
Dose of poison
Agree or disagree? Post your views below
According to Paracelsus, ‘The dose makes the poison’; in other words, what matters is not so much the substance but how much of it is present. In modern usage, international regulators and scientific authorities have interpreted this by assigning to different chemicals so-called threshold values related to their observed or projected toxicities, below which doses we are led to believe they may be safely used and applied. LD50 values, at which concentration of substance half of the cells in a population will die, are another measure adopted to instil confidence that we have some handle on safety.
But can we be sure that staying below the recommended levels will keep us safe from adverse effects? With so many chemicals now circulating in the environment, is it wise to simply assume we are safe below a pre-assigned dose of any one of these without taking account of potential interactions with others?