OECD publishes new and updated Test Guidelines for chemicals

Posted on: 29/03/2024

The OECD Test Guidelines (TG) for the Testing of Chemicals are used to assess the potential hazardous effects of chemicals on human health and the environment. These TG are internationally accepted by the OECD Member Countries as standard methods for safety testing. They are used by the government, academics, industry as well as independent laboratories.

The OECD TG are adopted on a regular basis in order to reflect the most recent developments in science and to meet the regulatory needs of the different OECD Member Countries. All involved OECD Member Countries are obliged to accept the use and results of these TG as they are covered by the OECD ‘Mutual Acceptance of Data’.

Recently, following TG were adopted under ‘Section 4: Health Effects’.

New Test Guidelines:

  • Test No. 497: Defined Approaches on Skin Sensitisation which is a new type of TG that uses several types of information sources (e.g. in silico predictions, in chemico assays, in vitro data) to provide information on chemical safety. By using a combination of different methodologies, the limitations of individual methods can be minimized. This new approach can help to replace the need for animal test data.
  • Test No. 498: In vitro Phototoxicity - Reconstructed Human Epidermis Phototoxicity test method is used to identify the phototoxic effect of a chemical after topical application on reconstructed human epidermis tissues in the presence and absence of simulated sunlight. The phototoxicity potential is measured by the relative reduction in viability of cells exposed to the test chemical in the presence as compared to the absence of simulated sunlight.

Updated Test Guidelines:

Corrected Test Guidelines:

 

Information Resources:

  1. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/oecd-guidelines-for-the-testing-of-chemicals_72d77764-en
  2. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/oecd-guidelines-for-the-testing-of-chemicals-section-4-health-effects_2074578
  3. https://www.oecd.org/chemicalsafety/testing/oecdguidelinesforthetestingofchemicals.htm
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