Celebrating Thirty Years of International Toxicology

From ICT I, March 30 - April 2, 1977, Toronto, Canada
to ICT XI July 15 - 19, 2007, Montréal, Canada

About 1970, toxicology was accepted as a distinct scientific discipline. It soon became clear that a need existed to promote and harmonize toxicology internationally, and ensuing discussions identified the value of an international congress of toxicology. At a 1975 joint meeting of the European Society of Toxicology and the Society of Toxicology of the United States held in Montpellier, France, plans were launched for such an international meeting.

The Steering Committee for ICT I* included many of the pioneers of the newly emerging discipline of toxicology, who shared the goal of establishing a forum for scientists and students concerned with the potential for chemically induced injury to human health and the environment. ICT I was held in Toronto, Canada in 1977 during the four days following the annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology, which was also held in Toronto that year.

The theme of ICT I was "Toxicology as a Predictive Science". Thirty nations were represented, with a total attendance of over 950. The scientific program for the congress consisted of six symposium topics, five platform presentations, and five poster sessions containing 89 posters. The symposia covered the status and problems in toxicology, inter-species extrapolations and thresholds, linking experimental toxicology and epidemiology, and toxicology in transition. The topics of the five platform sessions, which included a total of 73 presentations, were: Herbicides and Pesticides; Drugs and Drug Metabolism; Metals; Mutagens, Carcinogens and Teratogens; and Water / Air. While these topics are still relevant today, it is obvious that toxicology has evolved immensely in the last 30 years.

ICT I was considered to be a resounding success and marked the first of a continuing series of international congresses held around the world. Equally importantly, ICT I provided impetus for the eventual creation of a permanent international organization for toxicology, The International Union of Toxicology.

On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the ICT I, the Organizing Committee for the Eleventh International Congress of Toxicology invites all members of the international toxicology community to return to Canada in July of 2007, this time to the exciting and cosmopolitan city of Montréal, to join us in marking this important milestone in international toxicology.

* ICT I Steering Committee
Deitrich Henschler, Germany; Sheldon D. Murphy, USA; Robert G. Burford, Canada; Roberto Chaves-Chavarria, Costa Rica; Leon Golberg, USA; Harold C. Grice, Canada; Esther Cholmoky, Hungary; Olga Benesova, Czechoslvakia; Bo Holmstedl, Sweden; Gabriel Plaa, Canada, Jens Schou, Denmark; Yasuhiko Shirasu, Japan; Samuel Schvartsman, Brazil; René Truhart, France; Vladimir Vojvodic, Yugoslavia

Note:

The Organizing Committee of the ICT XI in Montréal wishes to acknowledge and celebrate 30 years of international toxicology at the next ICT meeting in 2007. In preparation, we are soliciting the toxicology community for any photographs, publications and mementoes from the first ICT held in Toronto, Canada in 1977. All contributions are to be sent to our Secretariat at:

XI International Congress of Toxicology
National Research Council Canada
1200 Montreal Road, Building M-19
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1A 0R6


Thank You.