International Society on Toxinology

The International Society on Toxinology was founded in 1962 by a group on scientists and clinicians interested in advancing the science of toxinology. The Society had it's first international meeting in 1966 in Atlantic City, USA and it's Journal, Toxicon, was first published in 1963.

The purpose of the Society is to advance knowledge on the properties of toxins and antitoxins and to bring together scholars interested in these substances through a common Society. Membership consists of those who have conducted and published meritorious original investigations in toxinology, while persons who do not qualify for membership but are interested in the field of toxinology are eligible for associate membership.

This website is designed to give IST members and others interested in toxinology access to IST information on forthcoming meetings, subscription payment, membership profiles and related matters.

IMPORTANT NEWS!!!

The next IST meeting is the Pan-American Section Congress, to be held in Brazil, November 3-8, 2013, in conjunction with the Brazilian Society of Toxinology. All members in this region are invited and encouraged to attend. More information is available on the congress website, and on the Pan-American Section page of this website.

IST Council has now approved and adopted the draft constitution for the Board of Clinical Toxinology and has appointed an inaugural Board to advance this initiative, first discussed at the World Congress in Recife in 2009.

The 17th World Congress of IST was held at the Hilton Hawaii Village, O'ahu, Hawaii, July 8-13, 2012.Around 350 people registered for the Congress, with 344 abstracts accepted. The Society thanks the organisers for their hard work in making the Congress a success.

At the IST AGM, during the Congress, on July 13th, 2012, the proposed new IST Constitution (version 2) was unanimously adopted by members present.

Prof. Gopalakrishnakone retired as IST President, handing over to Prof. Alan Harvey as the incoming President. Nominations for official IST positions were called for. There was only one nominee for Secretary/Treasurer, so Prof. White was declared elected (re-elected). Elections were held for President Elect and for 6 Council positions. Prof. Jay Fox (USA) was elected President Elect. Prof. David Warrell (UK), Dr. Reto Stocklin (Switzerland), Prof. Chema Gutierrez (Costa Rica), Prof. Lourival Possani (Mexico), Prof. Glenn King (Australia) and Prof. M Kini (Singapore) were elected to Council.

Prof. David Warrell (Oxford University, UK) was inducted as the 2012 Redi Lecturer/Awardee. The Society congratulates Prof. Warrell for his outstanding work in toxinology, over many years, leading to his Redi Award.

The World Health Organisation have added snakebite to their list of Neglected Tropical Diseases. This is a very important step in gaining support for dealing with the global envenoming problem.

Global Snakebite Initiative
This important project is the first major undertaking resulting from the Global Issues in Clinical Toxinology Conference, held in Melbourne, Australia, November 2008. At this meeting, attended by stakeholders from all continents (except Antarctica), a steering committee was formed to move towards solutions for envenomed patients Worldwide. It was considered by this meeting, attended by some senior IST members, that this process would best be promoted by close association with the IST, as a project under the IST banner. At the Asia-Pacific Section Congress in Vietnam in December 2008, a proposal was made by Prof. David Warrell, seconded by Prof. P Gopalakrishnakone (IST President), that "The Global Snakebite Initiative be formally endorsed as an official initiative of the IST." This was passed unanimously and confirmed unanimously at the IST World Congress in Recife, Brazil, March 2009. This important initiative is now officially a project of the IST. The Steering Committee, which contains a number of IST members, will produce a work plan and timeline to present to all IST members. A new website to promote the Initiative has been launched at www.snakebiteinitiative.org and it is to be hoped that this will progress to a major resource for the Initiative.

Global Snakebite Statistics
Recent research by Kasturiaratne et al, published in PLoS, has redefined global estimates of snakebite epidemiology. However, this is, to some extent, a "work in progress". One of the authors, Prof. Janaka de Silva (Sri Lanka) has kindly made available some of the data tables on which the study conclusions were based, with a "challenge" to IST members (and others) to provide more definitive data for each listed country. These tables will be listed on a separate page structure for this website. All interested members are urged to peruse this information and contact Prof. de Silva if they have additional data that might be used to update the tables. This work may be considered as one section of the Global Snakebite Initiative.

Clinical Toxinology
The issue of specialist-level training for medical doctors, in the field of clinical toxinology, and credentialling of such training, was canvassed at the Global Issues in Clinical Toxinology Conference and again, through presentations, at the Asia-Pacific Section Congress in Vietnam. As a result a proposal was put by Prof. Julian White, seconded by Prof. Dietrich Mebs, that "The Asia-Pacific Section of the IST supports the development of a clinical toxinology initiative by the IST." This was passed unanimously and confirmed unanimously at the IST World Congress in Recife, Brazil, March 2009. This important initiative is now officially a project of the IST. The new IST Constitution allows the IST to develop clinical toxinology at a global level. As this project develops, members will be kept informed. The next stage, approval of the constitution of the Board of Clinical Toxinology and establishment of the Board, occurred at the March 2013 IST Council meeting.