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Book Review: Advances in Applied Toxicology

The aims of this book were to present "concise accounts of some growing points and problem areas in toxicology" and to show "how experts evaluate these concerns variously to decide the real nature of toxic effects, sometimes to suggest their underlying mechanisms, and how they are assessed to advise on safety". The book contains ten chapters and an index. In his chapter on What is wrong with the way we test chemicals for carcinogenic activity?, Francis Roe (London) criticises concepts with insufficient foundation, which have distorted approaches to carcinogenicity testing. He calls for more studies on the effects of life-style and hormonal factors on tumour incidence in rodents, and for more attention to be paid to the importance of non-genotoxic mechanisms in carcinogenesis. Two chapters deal with contraceptive steroids. P. Giinzel et al. (Schering AG, Berlin), in Comparative aspects of experimental test systems and the human, cite considerable interspecies differences, to which monkey species are no exception, and suggest that a critical review of preclinical and clinical testing of new oestrogens and progestins is essential "the pharmacodynamic characterisation generally relevant for humans must be performed in humans". Bearing this in mind, in Experimental toxicology studies with contraceptive steroids and their relevance for human risk estimation, M. Lehman et al. (also from Schering AG, Berlin) suggest a more-relevant testing programme for contraceptive steroid hormones, with an emphasis on qualitative, rather than quantitative, extrapolation to humans. Another major problem, Mutagens, carcinogens and tumour promoters in food, is considered by Keiji Wakabayashi et al. (Tokyo), but with an emphasis on "mutagens/carcinogens", which rather exemplifies the current concepts criticised by Francis Roe. Their chapter concludes with 12 suggestions for improving our general life-styles and dietary habits. However, we must also hope that the food industry will be reconsidering what 358