Assessment of Allergic Potential

The ability of many chemicals and drugs to cause allergic disease in man is well documented. A range of methods for the prospective identification and characterization of materials that have the potential to induce allergic responses is now available. Some of these are well-established and have a long history, while others have yet to be validated formally or are still in the development and evaluation phase. It is the purpose of this article to summarize the approaches and potential approaches that can be used for the toxicological assessment of contact and respiratory sensitizing activity.