[Assessment of the sensitizing potency of cosmetic ingredients and commodities. How will the ingredients of cosmetics and commodities be tested in Europe today and tomorrow?].

Cosmetics and certain commodities are applied or used by consumers directly on the skin. Creams may remain on the skin for longer periods, hair is dyed multiple times per year, nickel ions can be released from studs and piercings in areas of skin damage or migrate from toy materials into the skin of children. Accordingly, using or handling such products always entails a risk for developing a contact allergy. Moreover, daily usage and repeated contacts to certain cosmetics and commodities might lead to repeated elicitation of contact eczema in people already sensitized against allergenic ingredients. Unfortunately, contact allergy is not curable. For the assessment of the allergenic potential of chemicals, only testing based on animal experiments was available in the past. In 2003, the 7(th) amendment of the Cosmetics Directive 76/768/EWG laid down a ban on animal testing of cosmetic ingredients and from 2013 a general marketing ban of such products as well. Therefore, the development and validation of non-animal methods for assessing the toxicological endpoint sensitization/allergenic potency of chemicals is a major task for the years ahead and remains equally a challenge for industry and regulatory agencies.