Toxicity facts for kids
Toxicity is how much a substance can harm a living thing, like a plant, animal, or human. The study of toxicity is called toxicology.
A key idea in toxicology is that almost anything can be harmful if you have too much of it. For example, even water can be dangerous if someone drinks an extreme amount. The effect of a substance depends on the dose, meaning how much of it you are exposed to. Even very strong poisons, like elapid snake venom, have a dose below which they won't cause harm.
Toxicity can also be different for different species. A dose that might be harmful to one animal might not affect another.
What Is Acute Toxicity?
Acute toxicity describes the bad effects that happen quickly after someone or something is exposed to a substance. This can be from a single exposure or from several exposures over a short time, usually less than 24 hours. For it to be called acute toxicity, the harmful effects should appear within 14 days of the exposure.
Acute toxicity is different from chronic toxicity. Chronic toxicity refers to health problems that develop from many exposures to a substance over a much longer time, like months or years, often at lower levels.
How We Learn About Acute Toxicity
It is not right to test substances on humans to study acute toxicity. However, scientists can learn from accidental exposures, such as those that might happen in factories. Most information about acute toxicity comes from studies on animals or, more recently, from in vitro (meaning "in glass" or in a test tube) methods. Scientists also use information from similar substances to understand new ones.
Images for kids
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A Patch test can show if your skin reacts to a substance.
See also
In Spanish: Toxicidad para niños
