Surfactants: a survey of short-term genotoxicity testing.

The available results for tests on over 200 surfactants in nine short-term genotoxicity assay systems were reviewed. These tests included the Salmonella/microsome mutation assay, bacterial DNA repair tests, mitotic recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the mouse lymphoma cell-mutation assay, unscheduled DNA synthesis and sister chromatid exchange assays in mammalian cells, mammalian chromosome damage tests in vitro and in vivo, the dominant lethal test in rodents, and mammalian cell-transformation tests. The collected data cover all four major classes of surfactants: anionic, cationic, nonionic and amphoteric.

Benzyl salicylate: a survey of consumer patch-test sensitization.

The potential of benzyl salicylate, an important fragrance and flavour ingredient, to induce hypersensitivity or to elicit reactions to pre-existing hypersensitivity in the general population was evaluated by analysing patch-test data. Results obtained from fragrance and formulator companies for a total of 10,538 patch tests on benzyl salicylate alone, on a variety of household and personal care consumer products and on fragrance blends containing benzyl salicylate were analysed as part of this survey. No induced or elicited responses directly attributable to benzyl salicylate were observed in the 35 patch tests on benzyl salicylate alone, or in the 10,503 patch tests on consumer products or fragrance blends containing benzyl salicylate.

Isoeugenol: a survey of consumer patch-test sensitization.

The potential of isoeugenol, an important fragrance and flavour ingredient, to induce delayed contact hypersensitivity or to elicit pre-existing sensitization reactions in man was evaluated by analysing patch-test data from dermatitic and non-dermatitic subjects. Results from a total of 6512 patch tests (involving approximately 5850 subjects) on isoeugenol alone and on various consumer products and fragrance blends containing isoeugenol, were collected from fragrance and formulator companies. Hypersensitivity induced by isoeugenol was concentration dependent.

Eugenol and clove leaf oil: a survey of consumer patch-test sensitization.

The potential of eugenol and of clove leaf oil, which contains a high concentration of eugenol, to induce delayed skin hypersensitivity or to elicit reactions due to pre-existing skin sensitization in man was evaluated by analysing patch-test data. Results from a total of 11,632 patch tests on eugenol itself, on various consumer products containing eugenol and/or clove leaf oil, and on fragrance blends containing eugenol and/or clove leaf oil were collected from fragrance and formulation companies. One instance of induced hypersensitivity and one instance of pre-existing sensitization were observed at eugenol patch-test concentrations of 5 X 10(-2) and 9 X 10(-2)% respectively.

Cinnamic aldehyde: a survey of consumer patch-test sensitization.

The potential for cinnamic aldehyde, an important fragrance and flavour ingredient, to induce or to elicit delayed contact hypersensitivity reactions in man was evaluated by analysing patch-test data. Results of studies involving a total of 4117 patch tests on various consumer products and fragrance blends containing cinnamic aldehyde and on the material itself were collected from fragrance and formulator companies. The data indicate that cinnamic aldehyde contained in consumer products and fragrance blends at concentrations up to 6 X 10(-1)%, and patch-tested at concentrations up to 8 X 10(-3)%, has no detectable potential to induce hypersensitivity.