Introduction

Abstract

In the landmark book — Silent Spring — from the early 1960s, Rachel Carson wrote (Carson, 1962; 1994): ‘For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death.’ And this statement of some more than four decades ago is not about to change, given our dependency — maybe even obsession — with a ‘modern way of life.’ Indeed, in everyday living, peoples around the world — directly or indirectly — are exposed to myriad sources and cocktails of chemical hazards. Ultimately, chemical exposure problems may pose significant risks to the general public because of the potential health effects. Risks to human health as a result of exposure to toxic materials present or introduced into our living and work environments are, therefore, a matter of grave concern to modern society. To borrow again from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, ‘if we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals — eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones’, then at the very least, we should be able to determine the risks that we are exposed to, as well as know how to manage such risks — in order to ensure a quality to our life (Carson, 1962; 1994).