Environmental toxicology

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Environmental toxicology , and its sister-subject ecotoxicology, refer to the study of the scientific effects upon organisms that anthropogenic compounds might- and do- have once released into the natural environment.

Classically, the term "environmental toxicology" refers to the study of the direct effects of environmental chemicals on human beings, specifically. Whereas "ecotoxicology" has been alleged to be the integration of toxicology and ecology.

There is an increasing need to develop reliable and sensitive techniques for testing the effects of the growing number of pollutants being released into ecosystems all over the world every day. Some emerging techniques utilise the rapid advances in stem cell technology to provide fast and detailed information relating to the risk posed by any given pollutant (or mixture of pollutants) in any given environment.


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