OECD 438 OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals, Standard Test for Chemicals that Cause Serious Eye Damage

EUROLAB laboratory provides testing and compliance services within the scope of OECD 438 standard. The OECD chemicals testing guidelines are a collection of approximately 150 of the most relevant internationally recognized test methods used by government, industry and independent laboratories to identify and characterize the potential hazards of chemicals.

They are a set of tools for professionals used primarily in regulatory safety testing and then in chemical and chemical product declaration, chemical registration and chemical evaluation. They can also be used for selection and sequencing of candidate chemicals during the development of new chemicals and products and in toxicology research. This set of tests covers health effects.

The Isolated Chicken Eye (ICE) test method is an in vitro test method that can be used to classify substances that cause serious eye damage (UN GHS Category 1) or do not require classification (UN GHS Category No). The ICE method uses eyes collected from chickens from slaughterhouses where they are slaughtered for human consumption, thus eliminating the need for laboratory animals.

The eye is enucleated and the cornea is mounted in a horizontally positioned eye holder. The test substance and negative/positive controls are applied to the cornea. Toxic effects on the cornea are measured by a qualitative assessment of opacity, a qualitative assessment of epithelial damage based on fluorescein retention, a quantitative measurement of increased thickness (swelling).

Endpoints are evaluated separately to create an ICE class for each endpoint and then combined to create an Irritant Classification for each test item. Optionally, the histopathology of the eye can be evaluated to improve the prediction of the test for chemicals that cause serious eye damage.

EUROLAB assists manufacturers with OECD 438 test compliance. Our test experts, with their professional working mission and principles, provide you, our manufacturers and suppliers, the best service and controlled testing process in our laboratories. Thanks to these services, businesses receive more effective, high-performance and quality testing services and provide safe, fast and uninterrupted service to their customers.