Chemistry in relation to toxicity and to risks of exposure to organotin compounds

Abstract Toxicity is a multi-faceted property; between exposure of the organism and the expression of toxicity, as signs or symptoms of poisoning, are many stages which have different mechanisms and different doseresponse and structure-activity relationships. Central to an understanding of toxicity is the initiating reaction(s) of the toxic chemical with important macromolecules (targets) which causes changes in the controlling systems within the affected cell. Toxicity is therefore a chemical problem in biology.