ICCS Best Practice Guidance - Skin Sensitization Assessment: Using New Approach Methods for Substances in Cosmetics and Personal Care Products

ICCS Best Practice Guidance Document - Skin Sensitization Assessment: Using New Approach Methods for Substances in Cosmetics and Personal Care Products

This Best Practice Guidance (BPG) document provides insights into using New Approach Methods (NAMs) for skin sensitization assessments for substances in cosmetics and personal care products. The document aims to increase the use and acceptance of NAMs by providing a structured workflow for safety assessors. The primary goal of this document is to inform hazard and safety assessments without the need for new animal testing.

This BPG explains the key principles and steps involved in skin sensitization assessments using NAMs, focusing on problem formulation, exposure assessment, targeted testing, and applying new data in decision-making contexts. The importance of documentation and transparency is emphasized, with guidance on reporting decisions, input variables, and assumptions. The proposed workflow for hazard and/or safety is presented covering problem formulation, substance characterization, data gathering, and evaluation.

The objectives of each step of the workflow process are listed below. For additional details on each step, the assessor is referred to the details presented in the full document following this Summary.