Essentials of Toxic Chemical Risk: Science and Society

This volume provides a basic introduction to toxicology within a framework of chemical risk to ecosystems and to human health and forms the basis of a new approach to teaching toxicology from a broad, interdisciplinary perspective. It presents concepts from chemistry, ecology, physiology, and other disciplines as needed within the context of toxicology. These include chemical equilibrium, energy, and nutrient flows through ecosystems. It also introduces concepts specific to toxicology, such as risk as a composite of toxicity and exposure, and provides case studies of risk management to illustrate the ways in which laboratory results are used to manage chemical risk to human health and the environment.

Stephen Penningroth was educated at a German Gymnasium, did his undergraduate work at Brown University and the Columbia University School of General Studies, and earned a Ph.D. in Biochemical Sciences from Princeton University in 1977. He served as an assistant and associate professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Osteopathic Medicine, teaching pharmacology and toxicology to second-year medical and osteopathic students and performing basic research on cell motility with grant support from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Following a sabbatical leave, he shifted focus to science education, resigning from the medical school and moving to Cornell University as an adjunct faculty member in 1993. While at Cornell he designed and taught undergraduate courses in environmental, regulatory and reproductive toxicology and also acted as a technical advisor to three citizens groups at Superfund toxic waste sites in New York and New Jersey. Since 2000 he has served as Executive Director of the not-for-profit Community Science Institute communityscience.org in Ithaca, NY, which partners with citizen volunteers to address risks to water in the Finger Lakes region.