Skin Sensitisation and Epidermal Disposition: The Relevance of Epidermal Disposition for Sensitisation Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment

This is the 59th report of a series of workshops organised by the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM). The main goal of ECVAM, as defined in 1993 by its Scientific Advisory Committee, is to promote the scientific and regulatory acceptance of alternative methods which have scientific relevance and which reduce, refine or replace the use of laboratory animals. One of the first priorities set by ECVAM was the implementation of procedures that would enable it to become well informed about the state-of-the-art of non-animal test development and validation, and the potential for the possible incorporation of alternative tests into regulatory procedures. It was decided that this would be best achieved by the organisation of ECVAM workshops, each addressing a specific topic, and at which selected groups of independent international experts would review the current status of various types of in vitro tests and their potential uses, and make recommendations about the best ways forward. A workshop on Skin Sensitisation and Epidermal Disposition was held at ECVAM (Ispra, Italy) on 30–31 January 2006, under the chairmanship of David Basketter. The current status of approaches used to measure the disposition of chemicals in skin compartments was reviewed, with particular emphasis on proposing recommendations on how best to use such information to reduce, refine and/or eliminate the need for animal testing, according to the Three Rs principle. The key focus was the relevance of information on epidermal disposition, and how best to integrate such information into non-animal testing strategies for skin sensitisation.