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Draize Eye Irritancy Test

The Draize Eye Irritancy Test is designed to show whether chemicals, especially those used on the face, hands and other parts of the body, can damage the eyes. As it is used now, it is a very mild test. It involves placing chemicals, which may be irritants to the eyes, on the surface of the eyes of restrained animals, particularly rabbits. Any irritation the chemicals cause is assessed from tears, redness or swelling. The test is very much milder today than it used to be. That is because very low concentrations of chemicals are used and at the first sign of irritation they are washed out of the eye. Despite this, there has been strong pressure from scientists, as well as from animal welfare, animal protection and other groups, to find replacement alternatives for the Draize Test. Although substantial progress has been made in making the Draize Test much milder and in reducing the number of animals used, in some countries there is a legal requirement for the Draize Test to be done on drugs, cosmetics and other chemicals which might come in contact with the eyes. Non-animal alternatives to the Draize Test are being actively researched. As yet no alternatives which are acceptable to safety authorities have been found, but the search is continuing, and some new approaches look promising.