EUROTOX's view regarding the ROLE and TRAINING of certified European registered toxicologists (ERT)

doi:10.1016/j.toxlet.2006.09.012

Toxicology Letters

Volume 168, Issue 3, 5 February 2007, Pages 192-199

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxlet.2006.09.012 Get rights and content

Abstract

Toxicology's evolution from a traditional science of poisons to an extensive discipline has introduced complications and ambiguity in the definition of a scientific area of qualification and training. The need to define toxicology and to identify and standardise the roles and the profiles of practising toxicologists in order to certify the professional credibility of toxicologists has been recognised by national registries and certifying boards across the USA, Europe and Asia.

Established in 1994, the EUROTOX Model (www.eurotox.com) has promoted the harmonisation of educational differences, practical experiences and common visions and requirements for the accreditation of toxicologists in Europe. Such harmonisation should be seen as an indispensable step towards the mutual recognition of registered toxicologists at a global level and to promote the development of shared educational and training programmes on a regional basis.

A description of typical professional roles for toxicologists with required educational background, training and experience are presented in this paper and serve as the basis for the ERT templates, a self-evaluation tool for individuals seeking ERT recognition.

Introduction

Efforts to ensure the safe use of chemicals are presently the main concern of toxicology. Toxicology is a scientific area that has profoundly changed its fields of knowledge and application to take account of scientific progress, and to meet the needs of society. In many respects the rapid development of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries during the 20th century provided a giant step in the progress and quality of life, but not without consequences. Today, there is an increase of awareness of the negative impact of chemicals (synthetic and natural-origin) to human and animal health, as well as, the environment. As a result, toxicology has evolved from the traditional science of poisons into an extensive discipline that seeks to identify, estimate and control the benefits and adverse effects of chemicals in order to preserve the health and the environment from undesired effects. This conceptual evolution has led toxicology to occupy a key role in the complex scenario of public safety and to obtain an important function in the decision-making process where science has to interact with, and occasionally confront technical, political and societal visions.

The tasks toxicology has been called to accomplish have major implications with regards to how its scientific scope has evolved and is evolving. Toxicology is continuously adapting its field of knowledge and application in response to new issues and concerns, not only through the recognition of new disciplines or professional entities, but often also through the creation of alliances with existing scientific authorities. As a result, toxicology has become a lively area of debate with an engaging combination of eclectic and specialist professionals. In addition, the several branches and connections in different disciplines and the numerous alliances with traditional disciplines gathered under the umbrella of toxicology, have introduced some complication and ambiguity. Of particular concern is the definition of a scientific area of qualification and training, since the subject has undetermined and shifting borders.

In this scenario, the need to define toxicology as a diverse science and to identify and standardise the roles and the profiles of practising toxicologists has been widely recognised. This situation has led to a desire to harmonise and possibly certify the professional credibility of toxicologists through the establishment of national registries and certifying boards across the USA, Europe and Asia.

National registries were promoted in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s, whose admittance criteria embraced and harmonised the educational differences, practical experiences and common visions and requirements according to the EUROTOX¹ Model, which was formulated in 1994 by merging three founding registries.

The European register of toxicologists has been in existence for over 10 years and is a listing of individuals accepted by each registry and compliant with the original EUROTOX Model (http://www.eurotox.com). As shown in Table 1, today nearly 1200 toxicologists are currently recognised as European registered toxicologist (ERT). Table 2 shows the distribution of ERT registration by country.

Even though a high degree of harmonisation presently exists, significant work remains to further align the national registries and reviewing panels to identify as much as possible, the requirements and characteristics for the accreditation of toxicologists in Europe. Such harmonisation should be seen as an indispensable step towards the mutual recognition of registered toxicologists at a global level and to promote the development of shared educational and training programmes on a regional basis.

A review of the required educational background, needed training and experience, and the description of typical professional roles for toxicologists are presented in this paper.

Section snippets

Educational background and training requirements

In contrast to other professional roles the educational basis of a toxicologist can start from a heterogeneous group of scientific disciplines. This heterogeneity complicates the definition of the basic scientific background, and the theoretical and practical training requirements. Nevertheless, this is an indispensable step in the description of the practising toxicologist in Europe. The ERT Model requires a relevant scientific educational background to a higher level (graduate) combined with

Professional roles

In order to qualify for the ERT title, candidates have to demonstrate their active professional participation in the field of toxicology. Despite the difficulties of defining the general role of a toxicologist because of the existence of different scientific backgrounds and broad areas of application, toxicologists can be divided, according to their field of activity, as follows:

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Education;
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Basic and applied research;
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Risk assessment;
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Regulation.

Depending on their scientific interests and the area

The ERT templates

Developed by EUROTOX, the purpose of these templates is to further promote the harmonisation criteria and procedures of the national registration in Europe and to serve as a self-evaluation tool for individuals seeking ERT recognition. The following four hypothetical professional profiles, summarised in Table 3, are proposed as examples of individuals found at various levels of the criteria for ERT recognition. They have been chosen to ideally represent various phases of training and

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the valuable contribution of Dr. Marco Binaglia in the writing of this paper. Dr. Binaglia obtained summa cum laude his chemistry degree from The University of Perugia and his specialisation in toxicology from The University of Milan. From 1999 to 2003, he conducted his training period at The University of Milan Toxicology Lab. Currently, Dr. Binaglia works at Solvay as an industrial toxicologist. Also special thanks to Ellaine Ferioli for her technical contribution

John Fowler (PhD, ERT) is an independent veterinary pathologist specialising in toxicology. His main involvement is confidential reviews of newly derived and bibliographic data on a daily basis, whether pharmacology, toxicology or pathology. Present research interests include safety aspects of chemicals as candidate pharmaceuticals, chemicals of natural-origin, aspects of ecotoxicological, environmental and animal well being. Active in training, recognition, registration and accreditation of

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The Diplomate in Safety Pharmacology (DSP) certification scheme
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There is an increasing need for well-educated experts in health risk assessment procedures who can provide the European public with reliable risk assessment of the adverse health effects of chemicals and can meet these needs and demand of stakeholders across Europe. High standard academic education in toxicology characterized by high standards of knowledge, skills, experience, and professional standing of scientists professionally engaged in the field of toxicology is available at the master level in several European countries provide excellent candidates to become EUROTOX European Registered Toxicologists (ERTs) (EUROTOX1, Fowler and Galli, 2007) (Fig. 1). However, since there is no comprehensive education in risk assessment, which in detail covers all the various steps involved with the interpretation and integration of toxicological information on a case by case basis, individuals interested in working in this area are often forced to prepare their own curriculum by selecting training courses on a self service basis and through the integration of many years of experience in regulatory toxicology and risk assessment activity.
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EUROTOX
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Corrado L. Galli (PhD, ERT) is currently a full professor of toxicology and director of the Laboratory of Toxicology at The University of Milan in Italy. His major research area includes exposure to low levels of chemicals in combination with other chemicals and environmental factors (i.e. food additives, food allergens, pesticides, contaminants). Prof. Galli is author of more than 200 publications and serves in several Italian and EU scientific committees and professional organisations, including EUROTOX as president of the Executive Committee (2006–2008).

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