Effects of Biotransformation on the Toxicity of Organic Chemicals
Many organic chemicals are encountered in everyday life, such as components of smoke from charcoal grilling, wood-burning or cigarettes, pesticides used in households and in agriculture, ingredients in cleaning products, chemicals added to provide non-stick characteristics to kitchen equipment and other items such as clothes and shoes, and plasticizers added to provide durability to plastics. These chemicals are not acutely toxic, but many have been shown to result in adverse effects upon prolonged exposure. In some cases, studies show that the parent compound is responsible for the toxicity, but there are increasing numbers of examples where it has been shown that a metabolite, formed in the body, gives rise to some or all of the observed toxic effects. This book chapter, part of the Comprehensive Toxicology series, provides some examples of this phenomenon.