Use of guinea pig data to obtain starting points for skin sensitisation risk assessment - A commentary.

The increasing drive to understand the likelihood of skin sensitisation from plant protection products (PPPs) in workers and the general public has resulted in recent initiatives to establish a quantitative risk assessment (QRA) methodology applicable to these products and their exposure scenarios. The effective evaluation of skin sensitising substances requires not only the identification of that toxicological hazard, but also determination of relative sensitising potency. Typically, this has been achieved by interpretation of local lymph node assay (LLNA) dose response data, delivering what is known as the EC3 value.

Assessing the risk of induction of skin sensitization to plant protection products: A quantitative approach.

Exposure to skin sensitizers is common and regulated in many industry sectors. For cosmetics, a risk-based approach has been implemented, focused on preventing the induction of sensitization. First, a No Expected Sensitization Induction Level (NESIL) is derived, then modified by Sensitization Assessment Factors (SAFs) to derive an Acceptable Exposure Level (AEL).

Fragrance allergy: assessing the risk from washed fabrics.

The prevalence of contact allergy to fragrance ingredients increased during the last part of the 20th century with the consequence that a substantial number of individuals are at risk of experiencing allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) if they have a sufficient degree of skin exposure to the chemical to which they have become sensitized. Such exposure does not necessarily have to arise from the type of source that originally induced the sensitization. A number of sources of exposure are clearly associated with risk of elicitation of ACD, but the role of fragrance deposited on fabrics, for example as a result of laundry processes, also can be questioned.