The Skin Irritation Corrosion Rules Estimation Tool (SICRET)

Abstract

AbstractThis paper describes the Skin Irritation Corrosion Rules Estimation Tool (SICRET) that was developed to allow others to estimate whether their chemicals are likely to cause skin irritation or skin corrosion. SICRET uses physicochemical property limits to identify chemicals with no skin corrosion or skin irritation potential. If a chemical's physicochemical properties do not meet the prescribed limits to identify chemicals with no skin corrosion or skin irritation potential, then the chemical's structural alerts are used to identify chemicals with skin corrosion or skin irritation potential. If a chemical does not contain structural alerts that indicate it has skin corrosion or skin irritation potential, then in vitro skin corrosion or skin irritation testing is conducted. If the in vitro skin corrosion or skin irritation testing is positive, then the data are included in feedback loops for development of new structural alerts to identify chemicals with skin corrosion or skin irritation potential. If in vitro testing for skin corrosion or skin irritation is negative then the data are included in feedback loops for development of new physicochemical property limits to identify chemicals with no skin corrosion or skin irritation potential. The use of in‐vitro tests was proposed as a safety net to identify either new structural alerts for chemicals with skin corrosion or skin irritation potential or new physicochemical property limits for chemicals with no skin corrosion or skin irritation potential. In summary, SICRET is a “tiered approach” that uses physicochemical property limits, structural alerts and in‐vitro tests to classify chemicals that cause skin irritation or skin corrosion without further animal testing.