Veterinaria Italiana, 45 (1), 97‐110 ‘One Toxicology’, ‘Ecosystem Health’ and ‘One Health’ Val Beasley, DVM, PhD Summary increasing efficiency to facilitate diagnosis and ‘One Health’ as a discipline links human and management of poisoning; to prevent veterinary medicine as co‐equal partners in an unwanted, unwise, and unnecessary toxic increasingly efficient joint venture into health injury to human, animal, plant, and microbial promotion and prioritised research. ‘One components of biodiversity; to decrease Toxicology’ is proposed as a way to reunify nutrients available that enable toxigenic toxicology as a component of ‘Ecosystem species; and to prevent releases of chemical Health’ and the encompassing ‘One Health’. contaminants that indirectly set the stage for Ecotoxicology, which includes wild animal, infectious diseases. plant and microbial communities, is a critical Keywords component of ‘Ecosystem Health’. ‘One Ecosystem, Health, Medicine, One Health, Toxicology’ is proposed to help hold Public health, Toxicology, Veterinary. toxicological sciences together and maintain intimate connections to medicine in general. ‘One Toxicology’ is efficient because bio‐ “Una sola tossicologia”, “Salute chemical systems are highly conserved and, dell’ecosistema” e “Una sola thus, when one group of species is at risk, salute” other groups of species are also often at risk. Fortunately, in the case of toxicological risk, Riassunto problems can be avoided, because humans can “Una sola salute”, intesa come disciplina, minimise exposures. Historically, human racchiude in sé la medicina umana e veterinaria health has benefited immensely from studies come componenti di pari livello di una “joint of the impacts of chemicals on laboratory venture” sempre più efficiente tesa alla promozione animals and wildlife. Similarly, veterinarians della salute e alla visione prioritaria della ricerca. and wildlife managers have learned from “Una sola tossicologia” è un approccio careless or accidental poisonings of humans to all’integrazione della tossicologia come componente protect the health of both domestic and wild di ʺSalute dell’ecosistemaʺ e che racchiude il animals. Yet, newly discovered emerging concetto di ʺUna sola saluteʺ. Lʹecotossicologia che toxicoses abound, and well‐known toxicoses comprende le comunità della fauna selvatica, persist – to the detriment of all life forms, vegetali e microbiotiche, è un componente including our own. Thus, in the ‘One intrinseco di “Salute dell’ecosistema”. Viene Toxicology’ of the future, disciplinary proposta “Una sola tossicologia” per riunire le boundaries should more rapidly blur. If this is tradizionali scienze tossicologiche preservando gli done well, physicians, various public health stretti legami con la medicina in generale. “Una specialists, veterinarians of many disciplines, sola tossicologia” è utile in quanto i sistemi wildlife health specialists, ecologists and an biochimici sono caratterizzati da un elevato grado array of toxicologists will share and rely upon di conservazione, pertanto, quando un gruppo di disparate sources of information with specie è a rischio, il rischio investe spesso anche Diplomate, American Board of Veterinary Toxicology, Professor of Veterinary, Wildlife and Ecological Toxicology, Department of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2001 South Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61802, United States of America [email protected] © IZS A&M 2009 www.izs.it/vet_italiana Vol. 45 (1), Vet Ital 97 ‘One Toxicology’, ‘Ecosystem Health’ and ‘One Health’ Val Beasley altri gruppi. Fortunatamente, per quanto riguarda exposures of life forms to unwarranted il rischio tossicologico è possibile evitare problemi concentrations of chemicals. Unfortunately, poichè l’uomo è in grado di ridurre al minimo however, unnecessary chemically induced l’esposizione. Nella storia, la salute umana ha tratto diseases remain commonplace today around enormi benefici dallo studio dell’impatto degli the world. Direct poisonings involve all body agenti chimici su animali da laboratorio e fauna systems, cause acute and chronic dysfunction selvatica. Analogamente, veterinari ed esperti di and often induce lesions, malformations and fauna selvatica hanno imparato a proteggere la death. When the immune system is directly salute di animali domestici e selvatici da involved – as in the case of many heavy metals intossicazioni dovute a cause accidentali o and mycotoxins – or when it is indirectly comportamenti incauti. Tuttavia, si osserva involved – as in the case of toxicants that stress un’abbondanza di tossicosi emergenti di recente animals to prompt the chronic release of scoperta, con la persistenza di quelle ben note, a cortisol, the risks of infectious diseases scapito di tutte le forme di vita, compreso l’uomo. increase. Pertanto, nel concetto futuro di “Una sola Poisoning of predators at all scales of the tossicologia” i confini tra le varie discipline ecosystem may aggravate infectious disease dovranno svanire più rapidamente. Così facendo, problems. Small invertebrates, such as hydra, medici, esperti di salute pubblica, veterinari di copepods, damselfly larvae and dragonfly diverse discipline, professionisti nel campo della larvae eat trematode cercariae, reducing salute della fauna selvatica, ecologisti e una lunga infective loads (45). Other predators eat snails, schiera di tossicologi potranno condividere e thereby reducing their role in the vast asexual impiegare in modo più efficiente le molteplici fonti reproduction of trematodes. Various small di informazione per diagnosi e gestioni più agevoli predators (e.g. fish) eat mosquito larvae and delle intossicazioni che possono colpire i thus reduce the numbers of these vectors componenti della biodiversità; per evitare available to transmit viruses. Others eat intossicazioni indesiderate, inopportune e inutili ai rodents, birds and small predators, such as componenti umani, animali, vegetali e microbici opossums, raccoons and cats that may also della biodiversità; per ridurre i nutrienti che transmit diseases, especially when present in consentono la riproduzione delle specie tossicogene; high numbers. Of course, large predators test e per evitare il rilascio di contaminanti chimici herds of prey and the sick ‘typhoid Marys’ that all’origine di malattie infettive. tend to be slower and thus easy to catch are Parole chiave more likely to be removed from the population Ecosistema, Medicina, Salute, Salute pubblica, compared to those able to resist or rapidly Tossicologia, Una sola salute, Veterinaria. recover from infection. Removal of predators from the small to the very large, through any means, including poisoning, may thus set the Introduction stage for increased risks of infectious diseases. The widespread contamination of the environ‐ This paper endeavours to illustrate how ment with nutrients – as well as the poisoning ‘Ecosystem Health’, ‘One Health’ and ‘One of organisms that would normally trap Toxicology’ can better support one another. It nutrients – are ‘making life easy’ for toxigenic illustrates how ‘One Toxicology’ has existed species and they, in turn, poison humans, and how it should evolve to do a far better job animals and other life forms on Earth. of controlling both direct and indirect toxicant‐ Examples of toxicoses are used below to induced injury to human beings, other animals illustrate how toxicant‐induced problems come and other components of biodiversity. about and how a new, smarter, more efficient In terms of prevention of problems now and approach to ‘One Toxicology’ can contribute to into the future, toxicology should be the easy both ‘Ecosystem Health’ and ‘One Health’ not component of health stewardship. After all, the only in the short term but also far into the solution is simple: decrease or prevent future. 98 Vol. 45 (1), Vet Ital www.izs.it/vet_italiana © IZS A&M 2009 Val Beasley ‘One Toxicology’, ‘Ecosystem Health’ and ‘One Health’ ‘One Health’ and ‘One Given current conditions and trends, even if people, animals and other components of Toxicology’ in context biodiversity were no longer exposed to highly ‘One Health’ can be thought of as a broad infectious agents, toxic doses of anthropogenic discipline that relates to the understanding and chemicals and human‐induced elevations in care of human beings, domestic animals, natural toxins, Homo sapiens and other wildlife and other life forms – as individuals components of animal life would still be in and as populations. Hence, we have multiple peril. This is because it is essential to address health sciences and professions within the not only these concerns but also the other ‘big discipline of ‘One Health’. drivers’ of ecosystem disease. To have a regulated climate, a breathable atmosphere, Of course, in regard to one or more humans or clean air and clean water, fertile soils, diverse other animals, the word ‘health’ is used organisms from which we may discover routinely not only in the disciplinary sense but disease‐resistant strains of existing food‐ also to describe the overall condition of the producing plants and animals, and life forms individual or group of individuals examined from which we may derive new foods, within a given time frame. Without question, medicines and other commercial products, as when we consider health as a condition, we have well as the natural biota whose lives stimulate preferences; and the value judgment that we make the mental and emotional development and