Conclusions and Future Directions: A Personal View From the Session Chair

Human and Experimental Toxicology. 2002;21(9-10):569-572

Abstract: Developmental immunotoxicity is new both as an area of scientific study and as a potential source of concern in the protection of the public health. It is a combination of three nascent sciences and one older established area of study–immunology, `Development’, toxicological science and the practical application of experimental findings to indicate risks to man and means to control them. This hardworking and very successful meeting, organized by the Immunotoxicology Technical Committee (ITC) of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) with input from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), provided an appropriate setting in which scientists from industrial, academic and regulatory backgrounds were able to debate how the development of the immune system might be affected by toxicity, and ways in which transient and permanent harmful effects might occur. There was considerable interest in how the basic processes and structures of immunity and development might be affected by model substances, which could afford examples to demonstrate the value of laboratory methods to detect developmental immunotoxicity. There were vigorous discussions about testing strategies, about techniques, about how to `validate’ laboratory methods when there was relatively little consistent information from man to identify suitable positive control substances and cardinal disorders, and about how best to employ the sparse information to support the effective prediction of risk.

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