Warning: this will NOT be short, because this is what I am super passionate about, so I could go on for days about it, and I don’t often have a captive audience. That’s why writing is awesome. I get to let it all out. And then you get to choose whether or not to read it. (Please read it 🥺)

I recently came to the realization that a good number of my readers may not know exactly what toxicology is…and I think toxicology is quite literally the coolest field ever, so let me (not so briefly) tell you what it is all about 😉

Also…if you’ve forgotten, I’m getting my PhD in Toxicology, hence why I think it’s important for you to understand it if you’re reading my blog…(but mostly because toxicology is really fucking cool).

I’ll start by sharing the typical responses I get when I say I’m getting a PhD in toxicology:

“Oh interesting, what got you into that?” (with some weariness in their voice, lol)
“That’s like poisons, right?”
“I have to do a two-week rotation in that for med school!!”
“So does Mountain Dew really kill sperm?”

Toxicology is a lot of things! It can be focused on drugs, poisons, or Mountain Dew. BUT, it also encompasses a lot of other things. I’m more interested in the other things 🙂

Plain and simply, toxicology IS the study of poisons. But what is a poison? Some people (like Paracelsus, the “father of Toxicology”, pictured above) say “the dose makes the poison”. My college toxicology professor framed this form of thinking as, “Do you have to eat spoonfuls of the mysterious white powder to die, or just a little bit of it?” Some people, like professors in my department, argue that it’s not just the dose that makes the poison, but also all our individual differences (i.e. genetics) that may make us more susceptible or more resistant to the harmful effects imposed by said poison.

To provide some examples:

1. Lead is a well-known poison thanks to the Flint Water Crisis (though please know that many communities all across the United States also have had elevated lead in their water, not just Flint, MI). Children exposed to lead through their drinking water (or lead painted toys/walls) experience increased rates of behavioral issues, learning disabilities, along with many other adverse outcomes. This is bad. Thus, poison.
2. Acetaminophen (or TylenolⓇ) can be beneficial for treating minor aches and pains and reducing fever. I’ve taken it plenty of times! However, acetaminophen can be extremely harmful and dangerous (sometimes deadly) if you take more than the recommended dose or mix it with alcohol. I won’t go into the scientific details of why you should not consume acetaminophen with alcohol, just please know that if you are treating a hangover…choose a different drug for your headache 😅 Otherwise you may develop ulcers, internal bleeding, and/or damage your liver (in a very dangerous or even fatal manner). This is bad. Thus, poison (but only in certain scenarios).
3. Water. We all drink it. We need it to survive. Our bodies are supposedly 60% water. But if you have too much (i.e. via drowning)…that can be bad. Thus, in extreeeeemely high doses, poison (kind of…).

…hopefully from these examples you can see why it can be so difficult to define what a poison is. Lead seems obvious. Acetaminophen, not as obvious…though hopefully this will encourage you to read and take seriously the warning labels on drug containers. And water surprised me when I first learned about it…though it makes sense when you think about it! Really, anything can be a poison. But what I’m interested in (along with many other toxicologists) are those things that cause harm in reallllllly small amounts. Or, perhaps, unknown amounts (because you don’t know that you’re even being exposed to it). Also…while death is an obvious thing we want to avoid, exposure to “poisons” can cause other things that we also want to avoid…such as cancer, miscarriage, kidney disease, learning deficits, the list goes (and that’s what I want to focus on). I want to focus on the other types of poisons that cause the other types of bad things. Man, we could really go down a rabbit hole with all of this…I’ll do my best to stay focused.

When asked why I like toxicology, I always go off on the same spiel. So I’m sorry if this sounds like a response to an interview question, but it’s my honest and authentic response 😂 I love toxicology because I feel like it allows me to combine my interests in environmental health and human health, as well as in biology and chemistry. I really enjoyed taking anatomy and physiology in college and learning how complex and beautiful every system in our body works together to keep us alive…I always say that the more I learn about physiology and cell biology, the more amazed I am that life is even possible. I also became realllllly interested in environmental health and conservation after taking an environmental sciences class in high school and joining the environmental club. After learning about the (sometimes depressing) health status of our Earth and how human actions influence this, I felt empowered to do something about it! Check out my Reading List to see some of the books that have only elevated this interest and passion for environmental health.

Now, with the examples of what a poison is that I gave before, you might still be wondering how the hell toxicology allows me to combine my interests in these two fields. Well…let me tell you 😉

When we think about toxicology, and a lot of scientific research in general, a lot of it is focused on human health. Which, don’t get me wrong, is important!!!!! (I am especially interested in reproductive/maternal health and development…so I’m fascinated by all this too! Trust me!!). However, I don’t think enough of it is focused on environmental and ecological health. Yes, we want to understand how different things in our drinking water, air, medicines, firefighting foam, vehicles, chemicals used in the workplace, food containers, clothing, cosmetics, personal care products, furniture, really any consumer product (+ so much more) can harmfully affect our own health. But, to me, if we’re getting exposed to all this stuff in the air, water, and soil, then so is everything else around us! And that’s bad. Not just for us. But for everything in the environment around us too. Plants suffer. Animals suffer. Pollinators suffer. A lot of things suffer (or at the very least…change. Is this a bad change or a good change? TBD with some cool toxicology research). I don’t think I could possibly attempt to list everything that is affected by toxicants and pollutants in the environment. And then, in return, the suffering of plants, animals, pollinators (I know pollinators are animals too, I just figured you might only think of cows or something lol) affects our health again! It’s a constant, repeating cycle. Though, I emphatically believe there is something we can do about it to stop this cycle. We need to learn that if we treat the Earth well, it will treat us well back.

I once read that in indigenous cultures, people live with the Earth, whereas in a lot of Westernized cultures, people live on the Earth. Indigenous people see the Earth as a living extension of themselves. I think that’s really beautiful. And also really true. Trees (but mostly cyanobacteria, for all my real science nerds reading this) give us oxygen to breathe. They also give us nuts and fruit to eat. And shade…which I especially love because I cannot handle the heat. Lakes, rivers, and oceans provide us with water that we can drink, use for travel, and are home to delicious food that we can eat (and are home to the cyanobacteria, again for all my real science nerds). We can use mud and clay to build shelters. The list goes on. We could not live without the Earth. We cannot only take from it. We must give back. The health of the environment is the health of us.

Thus, I like studying toxicology because even though my thesis project is focused on how certain environmental contaminants affect pregnancy and reproductive health (which I am also super passionate about)…I know that my research will ultimately help protect the environment too (if we can convince people to stop using these chemicals and their evil twin sisters, improve remediation efforts, and make the responsible parties pay for it rather than tell consumers to “shop smartly”). 

So…hopefully you now have an idea of what toxicology is. Or at least a better idea than you did before. Toxicology is so many things. And I think that’s what makes it so cool. I do reproductive toxicology (looking at how environmental contaminants affect reproductive health), but there is also immunotoxicology, neurotoxicology, inhalation toxicology, and so much more. Damn. Toxicology really is the coolest field ever 😎

Ok, I’ll end this with a quote and then a request from y’all 🙂 And a thank you!!!! For reading this blog post!!!! It was so long!!! You’re a rockstar!! Thank you!!

“It doesn’t much matter whether people care or don’t care. What matters is that people change the world.” – Elizabeth Kolbert (The Sixth Extinction)

Lastly, If you are also someone who studies toxicology, I invite you to leave a comment about what toxicology/environmental health means to you and what kind of careers/other pursuits you hope to do with your degree or expertise in this super duper cool field 😉 Thank you!!!