SOCIETY O. TOXICOLOGY HISTORY - Society of Toxicology

presentation at the Scientific Sessions. These were divided into 23 Platform Sessions with 269
papers and 16 Poster Sessions with 406 posters. Six papers were withdrawn. On Sunday,
February 22, the meeting opened with two Refresher Courses beginning at 8:00 a.m. One was
“Basic Concepts of Immunotoxicity” and “Current Status of Scientific Considerations in
Conducting Toxicological Research.” The latter was a new concept previously referred to as an
“Author’s Scientific Forum” where the authors of the text book lead the discussion.
A symposium on “Drugs-Noise: Auditory Insults” was held on Tuesday morning, February 23,
and was chaired by Dr. R. Don Brown, Louisiana University. A second symposium was held on
Tuesday afternoon: “Peer Review and Scientific Decision Making” in which Congressman
William C. Wampler, House of Representatives, and others from industry and academia
participated. Dr. James E. Gibson was the moderator. A third symposium, “The Role of Cellular
Redox Balance in Toxicity,” was held Wednesday morning with Dr. Anne P. Autor, University
of Iowa, as chairwoman. On Thursday morning a symposium on “Combustion Toxicology” was
held from 8:30 to 11:30 with Dr. Charles Reinhardt serving as chairman. A joint symposium
with the Environmental Mutagen Society was held on Friday afternoon on the topic, “Is There
A Role Today For Mutagenicity Testing in the Safety Evaluation of Chemicals.” The chairman
was Dr. Gary Flamm and participating in the debate was Drs. David Brusick and Verne Ray
speaking for the proposition and Drs. Albert Kolbye and Robert B. Cumming speaking against
the proposition. The Rapporteur was Dr. Mortimer Mendelsohn of the Lawrence Livermore
Laboratory, California.
Specialty Sections on Mechanisms of Toxicity, Metals, Reproduction Toxicology,
Neurotoxicology and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapter met at various times for a business
meeting or simply a social gathering to seek more members.
The Poster Sessions continued to grow and attract more and more attention and covered a wide
range of subjects. These, along with the commercial exhibits, provided a common meeting
place for members, nonmembers and guests.
This was the first year that the Society of Toxicology Directory of Members included not only
the individual names and geographic distribution but an Employer List and members employed,
a very useful addition to the Society’s commitment to disseminate information. In addition, the
Executive Secretary’s office provided the members a listing of registrants at the 21st Annual
Meeting in Boston, something that was done in the first few years of the Society but the rapid
growth and lack of an official office soon made this impossible.
At the Past President’s breakfast in 1964, it was recommended that, when appropriate, the Past
Presidents should make their services available to Council on matters of national interest and
concern on which they could express an opinion without implicating the Council or the Society
as a whole. Regulatory agencies have, from time-to-time, made decisions to impose restrictions
on the use of certain chemicals or to remove them from the market place based on procedures
that violated sound practices used in toxicological research. On the other hand, protocols have
been developed with little regard for their proper execution and this has led to serious errors in
extrapolating animal data to man.
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