ABSTRACT
Evaluation of the irritancy potential to human skin of any chemical or formulation used in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries is a necessity. Several in vivo and in vitro tests aim to determine the risk of irritation resulting from the contact between these compounds and human skin. The most commonly used test is the rabbit skin irritation test described in the OECD test guideline 404 and in the European Chemicals Bureau Annex V part B.4 (https://ecb.jrc.it/testing-methods/) and initially described by Draize et al. (1944). This animal test consists in applying topically substances on the rabbit’s shaved skin, which are raw materials or formulations (i.e., nished products). A score is attributed according to physiological observations
on the animals, which allows the classi cation of each tested product.
