THE CLASSIFICATION OF SOLUBLE SILICATES FOR EYE HAZARD USING THE ENUCLEATED RABBIT EYE TEST

Soluble silicates represent a broad range of chemical substances, whic h, to meet EEC laws, must be classified and labelled to identify their toxicological hazards. The wide range of this type of substance which can be manufactured, and the potentially severe effects which can be produced in standard eye irritation tests, means that classification b y standard animal procedures is undesirable. One of the most reliable in vitro assays for assessing eye irritation potential is the rabbit e nucleated eye test. This procedure has been used to test a range of so luble sodium silicates to enable these materials to be classified for eye hazard. The experimental approach demonstrates an important exampl e of how an in vitro procedure can be used to propose classification f or materials in a reasonable, scientifically valid way, taking account of the nature of the potential hazards and the intrinsic limitations of the in vitro methods used.