The 50th Annual Meeting of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists

Abstract

The 50th Annual Meeting of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT2012) took place in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, on June 3–8, 2012. The meeting venue was the Act City Congress Center together with the Okura Act City Hotel Hamamatsu, which is located in the center of Hamamatsu City. TIAFT2012 was held as a joint meeting with the 96th Congress of the Japanese Society of Legal Medicine (JSLM96), which took place at the same venue on June 7–9, 2012. The Japanese Association of Forensic Toxicology (JAFT) acted as the hosting body for TIAFT2012. Preparation for TIAFT2012 started 4 years ago and many thanks are due to Secretary-General Dr. Kunio Gonmori, my laboratory staff, JAFT members, and my high school classmates for their great efforts. TIAFT2012 was very successful, with 472 participants from 47 countries in attendence, despite the backdrop of the terrible earthquake and tsunami disaster that struck eastern Japan on March 11, 2011. There was one keynote lecture, and a symposium of seven lectures on chemical warfare agent terrorism in acknowledgment of Japan as the only country to have experienced episodes of sarin and VX terrorism in 1994 and 1995. There were 96 oral presentations and 225 poster presentations during the meeting, while informally, participants took the opportunity to discuss the various worldwide problems on drug abuse and to exchange information on new designer drugs. We sincerely hope that TIAFT2012 will contribute greatly to further progress in research and practice in the field of forensic toxicology. In addition to the academic events of TIAFT2012, we prepared various social programs for the participants. I owe many classmates my thanks for their devoted efforts in preparing and running the social programs. As a result, many young scientists from abroad were able to engage with and enjoy the unique culture and customs of Japan and its people. In this special issue of TIAFT2012, we present only ten articles, because Forensic Toxicology has only emerged as a fully international medium since 2006. I express my thanks to Ms. Aiko Hiraguchi and her colleagues at Springer Japan for their generosity in providing the space for the special issue papers in Forensic Toxicology.