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Breaking News

Styrene can be listed as carcinogen on government report, federal judge rules.
Is bottled water bad for you?
Do you have mercury in your mouth?
As emissions fall in Louisville, judge upholds cancer classification for the chemical styrene.
Pesticides under fire for risks to pollinators.
Little White and the three toxins.

Scientific Studies

Lead poisoning in Nigeria came from contact with dust, soil.
Greener neighborhood, bigger babies.
Flame retardants may slightly affect toddlers' mental development.
Traffic noise increases risk of diabetes.
BPA levels in minority communities linked to ethnicity, season, chemical exposures.
Born sooner and smaller; PFOS affects fetal growth in the womb.

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Celebrating Five Years of Toxipedia

Toxipedia was launched in June 2006 and has steadily grown, now offering more than a thousand pages of information on toxic chemicals, ethical considerations, laws and regulation, the history of toxicology, green chemistry, and much more. 

Our goal is to provide scientific information in the context of history, society, and culture so that the public has the information needed to make sound choices that protect both human and environmental health.

Please make a donation today to celebrate our work and keep Toxipedia going strong many years into the future.

Lessons Learned: Looking Back to Go Forward


Sir Austin Bradford Hill (July 8, 1897 - April 18, 1991), English epidemiologist and statistician, pioneered the randomized clinical trial and, together with Richard Doll, was the first to demonstrate the connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer in 1950 papers. Hill went on to define the Hill criteria to determine causation in 1965.

A quote by Hill that echoes the precautionary principle:
"All scientific work is incomplete - whether it be observational or experimental. All scientific work is liable to be upset or modified by advancing knowledge. That does not confer upon us a freedom to ignore the knowledge we already have or postpone the action that it appears to demand at a given time."

In many cases we have the knowledge to make policy decisions that protect human and environmental health.

Explore more Lessons Learned columns.

A Small Dose of Toxicology, 2nd Edition, Released as Free E-book!


A Small Dose of Toxicology 2nd edition by Steven G. Gilbert, PhD, DABT, is an introductory textbook that examines the health effects of common chemical agents and places toxicology within the framework of our daily lives. Agents covered include not only obvious candidates such as lead, mercury, and solvents, but familiar compounds such as caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine. Additional chapters cover basic toxicology, targets of toxic agents, and applied toxicology (review the table of contents and download a chapter).

This revised and expanded second edition is available only as an e-book and contains numerous hyperlinks to articles and PowerPoint presentations on Toxipedia, as well as additional resources. Head to Healthy World Press to download your copy in EPUB, Kindle MOBI, or PDF formats, and please consider making a donation to support the development of future editions!

New Translations of Milestones of Toxicology Poster!


Our popular Milestones of Toxicology poster is now available in eleven languages! Click here to view the poster in Arabic, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Korean or Turkish! Additional translations are on the way!

"Scientists must make both science education and community outreach a much more central part of the scientific culture."

-Bruce Alberts, Editor-in-chief, Science magazine (Dec 3, 2010 editorial)