Toxic? Mutagenic? Or Carcinogenic? Is it all about the dose? How do these 3 scientific terms correlate and pertain to the chemicals we are exposed to on a day-to-day basis?
It is well known and has become an axiom that toxicity of any chemical is at large dependent on the dose that the person has come in contact with, ingested, or inhaled. And while for many chemicals this is indeed valid, there are some of them that are not purely toxic, but also are capable of producing mutations in our DNA, a process that can most of the time be corrected by our own intracellular proof-reading machinery, except when it becomes overloaded and cannot keep up with the numerous chemical assaults.
Some mutations are benign; some lead to severe consequences such as unregulated division and growth of cells, known as cancer. Thus, not all mutagens are carcinogens.
In a word, while a lot of chemical substances are toxic and their toxicity is dose-dependent, they are not necessarily mutagenic or carcinogenic; others are known mutagens and even the smallest amounts can result in the irreparable DNA damage and often lead to some metabolic or other biochemical disruption that may entail or contribute to the development of a diseased state or at times cancer. Details to come soon....