After a year of simultaneous testing, Noxell presented its result to the Food and Drug Administration. The agarose diffusion test, which is used as a prescreen before a product moves into clinical testing, uses fibroblast cell cultures, an agar overlay and a paper filter disc which holds the testing compound. Noxell focused on this particular procedure in part because industry and regulating agencies are familiar with it to test materials used for medical devices, Alford explains. Since scientists work with ideal testing compounds, cosmetic companies have to reinterpret their techniques for their own products. Teal spoke of the process.
Scientists often use pure compounds, with known solubilities and robust toxic end points.
Our products are at the low end of the irritation scale and we need a high level of discrimination to select the mildest products. This is not a criticism of basic scientists. Through funding from the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association, Inc., research is being conducted at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, on approximately 22 in vitro tests which could provide the same information as the Draize method. A battery of these tests may replace the Draize. Matthew Fitzgerald is a Kellogg fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.