Molecular toxicology is on the way to setting a new standard in toxic risk assessment, with the powerful help of concepts and methods developed in the fields of molecular and cellular biology.

The methods of molecular toxicology are endowed with qualities not always secured in more traditional approaches to toxicity assessment. These methods are easily standardized, reliable, reproducible and require only tiny amounts of the xenobiotic. They are much simpler, faster and less costly than current tests on animals and can be implemented with modest laboratory resources.

This volume of Advances in Molecular Toxicology represents a collection of invited papers presented at the First European Workshop on Molecular Toxicology in Sophia Antipolis, France, The book covers 8 selected topics in molecular toxicology. The first two are devoted to ''physics'', dealing respectively with advanced instrumentation enabling location and quantification of xenobiotics in cells and organs with ultimate precision, and computer-assisted assessment of risk (QSAR). A comprehensive and up-to-date survey of molecular toxicology in the pharmaceutical industry is contributed by a pioneer in this field. The third section addresses the effect of xenobiotics on cell-cycle actors. Sections 4--6 deal with molecular toxicology in skin, kidney, nerve, liver and pancreatic cells. The last two sections describe methods to probe DNA damage and repair, and immunotoxicity.