The Inaugural Conference of the Indian Society of Toxicology (TOXOCON-1) concluded on the evening of 28 November 2005 with a grand banquet on the lush green lawns of Hotel Highway Garden located strategically on the NH47 Bypass, Edapally, Cochin.
The Conference began on the same morning in the packed air-conditioned Amriteshwari Hall of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Cochin with a prayer, followed by a pooja conducted by Sampoojya Swamiji Poornamritananda Puri of the Amritanandamayi Ashram. In all, about 180 delegates had registered for the conference from all parts of the country, and even from abroad. They comprised toxicologists, pharmacologists, pharmacists, clinical physicians, forensic scientists, medico legal experts, veterinarians, and research students.
A total of 63 papers were received for presentation (50 oral presentations, 8 posters, and 5 waitlisted papers).
Dr DM Vasudevan, Principal, AIMS College of Medicine welcomed the gathering. He also released the 2nd issue of the Journal of Indian Society of Toxicology (JIST). The Conference was formally inaugurated by Admiral O.S. Dawson (Retd Chief of Naval Staff), a highly decorated naval veteran, who after his distinguished career in the Indian Navy began devoting time for social causes, of which minimizing the scourge of lead poisoning among susceptible populations occupies a major part of his time. Admiral Dawson also declared open the Regional Center for Lead Poisoning to come up under the Dept of Analytical Toxicology of AIMS. Later, he released the Book of Abstracts containing abstracts of talks and presentations of TOXOCON-1.
The Inaugural Address of the Admiral was followed by a brief history of the evolution of the Indian Society of Toxicology by Dr. (Mrs) P.G. Nayar, Professor of Pharmacology. A summary of the genesis and subsequent activities of the AIMS Poison Control Center was outlined by Dr. B. Umadethan, the Head of the Dept of Forensic Medicine.
The scientific program began with a series of invited lectures. The first was a thought provoking talk by Ian Simpson of Oxford University, a well known herpetologist working with the WHO Snakebite Treatment Group. Mr. Simpson shocked the audience by his assertion that while Indian doctors had for long assumed that there were only 4 major venomous snakes in India (the Big Four: Common Cobra, Common Krait, Russell’s Viper, and Saw-scaled Viper), there was actually a fifth one (Hump-nosed Pit Viper, making it the Big Five), which had consistently been overlooked or misidentified. Scarcely had the audience recovered from this stunning bit of news, than the next speaker Dr. Andrew Dawson of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka attacked the long cherished Big Two antidotes for organophosphates (atropine and oximes), and said that we must take a relook at some older drugs (clonidine, diazepam, and magnesium). This was followed by a doomsday lecture by the “Lead Man”
of India, Dr. T. Venkatesh of St. Johns Medical College, Bangalore who sounded a note of warning on the dangers of ignoring chronic heavy metal toxicity, particularly that due to lead, which according to him was causing a silent epidemic in many parts of India. The fourth presentation was by Dr. Ragini Vaishnav, a clinical pharmacologist from the Sultanate of Oman who shed some light on the underestimated toxicity of traditional medicines, and declared that herbal medicine is not necessarily safe medicine. The final talk was delivered by Dr. K. Sadasivan Pillai, a Research Scientist from Orchid Pharmaceuticals, Chennai, who highlighted the importance of statistics in toxicological research.
After a much needed tea break, the scientific paper presentations by delegates began in earnest, simultaneously in two separate halls. Over the next several hours, interrupted only by a refreshing working lunch, fifty odd papers covering an incredibly wide range of topics were presented by researchers and investigators of every hue, each vying with the other for the awards on hand. At the end of it all, Dr. B. D. Gupta, Ms. Hira Andrade et al, Dr. Sukhes Mukherjee et al, and Dr. Anita B. Rao et al walked away with the honors.
It was now time for some brainstorming in the form of a Panel Discussion on “Trouble Shooting in Toxicology.” This lasted for an hour, and after such a long and arduous day, it was but natural that the audience needed to unwind. So, what better way to do this than watch a scintillating hour of song and dance by the talented medical students of AIMS!
The evening concluded with a sumptuous banquet that extended late into the night, before the delegates finally called it a day.
