Stewart Michael J
Toxicology Unit, Department of Chemical Pathology SAIMR, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Ther Drug Monit. 2002 Feb;24(1):172-7. doi: 10.1097/00007691-200202000-00027.
The emerging nation of South Africa, in common with some other countries, notably Eastern Europe, is heir to decades of neglect with regards to the exposure of the majority of its population to toxic materials. In this short review, the major toxic health hazards are described. For most of these risks there are now programs in place to improve the situation, but co-ordination and financial constraints, along with the fact that the majority of the population neither live, nor work, in a controlled environment, mean that much remains to be done. The recent formation of a South African Toxicology society, which strives to bring together environmental, industrial, forensic and clinical toxicology should assist in an improvement, both in the epidemiology of toxicity in South Africa and in improved measures to reduce the incidence of preventable noncommunicable diseases related to both acute and chronic exposure to toxins. The South African scene also provides a "window' of opportunity to study the more fundamental aspects of exposure in human subjects and to couple these to animal and in vitro studies to elucidate the underlying mechanisms where these are unknown.
新兴国家南非与其他一些国家（尤其是东欧国家）一样，在过去几十年里一直忽视大多数民众接触有毒物质的问题。在这篇简短的综述中，将描述主要的有毒健康危害。对于其中大多数风险，目前已有改善情况的方案，但由于协调和资金限制，再加上大多数民众既不在可控环境中生活，也不在可控环境中工作，这意味着仍有许多工作要做。最近成立的南非毒理学协会努力将环境、工业、法医和临床毒理学结合起来，这应该有助于改善南非毒性的流行病学情况，并采取更好的措施来降低与急性和慢性毒素接触相关的可预防非传染性疾病的发病率。南非的情况也提供了一个“窗口”机会，来研究人体接触的更基本方面，并将这些与动物和体外研究相结合，以阐明未知的潜在机制。
