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Spain

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Country Correspondent
Guillermo Repetto


Overview (Visión general)


View Spain in a larger map Legend: = Government Agency, = NGO, = University, = Professional Society, = Poison Control Center, = Toxic Site.

In 1677, Antonio de Trilla, a physician from Toledo published the book "Treaty of the three types of poisons: mineral, plants and animals"; and Antonio Ximenez de Lorite, from Sevilla, published in 1790 the first study in Spanish that refers to health problems caused by air pollution from factories.

Mateo Orfila, the founder of modern toxicological science, was born at Mahon (Minorca), studied medicine and immediately became a private lecturer on chemistry in Paris. In 1819 he was appointed professor of medical jurisprudence, and four years later he succeeded Vauquelin as professor of chemistry in the Faculty of Medicine in the French capital. In 1830 he was nominated Dean of that Faculty, a high medical honor in France. He published several books including "The Treaty of Poisons or General Toxicology" (1814), with experimental observations on the symptoms of poisoning, explaining the kinetics and organ tropism of poisons, their physiological action, and the means of detecting them. Few branches of science can be said to have reached such a pinnacle due to the labor of a single individual.

Other interesting historical publications in Spain were the "Compendium of General and Special Toxicology", by Pedro Mata (1875), a book dedicated to Orfila, but criticizing his work, or the "General Toxicology" by Perez-Argiles (1943).

Judicial toxicological analyses were first ordered by the judges to members of the National Forensic Medicine Body, or to Professors of Legal Medicine or Pharmacy. The organization, now known as the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences, was established in 1887, to perform the requested studies. About 250 scientists are now working in the Institute's four centers.

The National Institute for Health and Safety at Work (INSHT) was created in 1970. It is composed of four territorial departments and 40 provincial offices, and is involved, with the Autonomic Communities, in the protection of worker health and the prevention and control of occupational exposures.

The first meeting of Spanish toxicologists was organized in 1971 and mainly focused on forensic toxicology. Since then, a biannual meeting was convened, leading to the foundation in 1980 of The Spanish Association of Toxicology (AETOX), just in time to organiz,e in 1987, an International Meeting on the Bicentenary of Orfila near his birthplace (Minorca). The AETOX is now a society of approximately 400 members from academia, government and industry. It holds, apart from the general biannual meeting, other workshops organized by a number of sections of the society (Alternative Methods, Clinical Toxicology, Environmental Toxicology, Food Safety, Forensic Toxicology, Veterinary and Toxicology).

AETOX has very good relationships with other societies interested in human and environmental health, such as the Spanish Society of Environmental Health (SESA), founded in 1964, with more than 350 members, a part of the larger Spanish Society of Public Health and Administration (SESPAS), with 3500 members.

A very important milestone in the Spanish academic system occurred in 1996; "Toxicology" was identified as an independent area of knowledge within the Universities, representing its recognition as a scientific and professional discipline. Since then, the number of professors of toxicology teaching in various faculties has increased considerably, with more than 50 positions occupied throughout the country. However, in Spain, there are not degrees in Toxicology, nor recognition of a medical speciality in clinical toxicology.

The relevance and complexity of regulatory activities forced the administration to create the Spanish Agency of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Products (AGEMED) in 1997 for the authorization of medicines, and the Spanish Agency on Food Safety (AESA) in 2001.

Following the example given by other European associations and the recommendation of EUROTOX, a Register of Spanish Toxicologists was established in 2000. About 50 professionals in basic and applied toxicology have been registered, demonstrating at least five years of experience and high level of professional competence and ethical conduct.

Finally, in 2004, the Spanish Committee of the International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX), was formed, under the umbrella of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). This committee is a collaboration between Spain's public administration and scientific societies and has a global impact due to the influence of IUTOX.

A version of this article was published in Information Resources in Toxicology, 4th Edition, GUILLERMO REPETTO and MANUEL REPETTO, Copyright Elsevier (2009).


Government Agencies and entities (Organismos oficiales)


Non-Governmental Organizations (Entidades no oficiales)


Universities (Universidades)


Professional Societies (Sociedades Profesionales)


Poison Information/Control Centers (Centros antitóxicos)


Miscellaneous Resources (Otros recursos)


Key Publications (Publicaciones)


Legal Links (Enlaces legislativos)


About Spain (Acerca de España)


Multilateral Organization Contacts (Contactos multilaterales)


Literature References from TOXLINE (Spain) (Publicaciones)

Note:Overlap between these two sets of search results is likely.