Predictive tests for irritants and allergens and their use in quantitative risk assessment

Abstract

Impacts on human health depend on a combination of the sensitisation and/or irritation hazard and the conditions, duration, numbers and extent of skin exposure. Except where appropriate human testing can be conducted, skin irritation tests are only of limited value in the characterisation of the potential effects associated with actual exposure of humans to irritants. In practise, there is likely to be exposure to multiple sources of irritancy. Predictive tests for skin sensitisation deliver information on the relative potency of individual sensitising chemicals which is a key to proper risk assessment. The optimal approach is to calculate the LLNA EC3 value and use this as an indicator of likely human potency. In vitro tests for the identification of skin irritants and skin sensitisers are not yet available. However, opportunities have been identified and are the subject of active investigation currently. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.