Extended toxicological assessment and ranking of epoxy resin systems according to their sensitizing potency

Status:

completed 11/2016

Aims:

This research project addresses a comparative health assessment focusing on (skin-) sensitising potency a) of single ingredient substances from epoxy resin systems and b) of epoxy resin mixtures on the whole.

Objective of the Project: providing potency data on many components of epoxy resin systems, which may permit substitution of the compounds with elevated potency.

Target Groups: manufacturers and users of epoxy resin systems, medical doctors engaged in occupational medicine, and health protection agencies.

Activities/Methods:

In this ranking procedure, specifically developed for this purpose, 66 single substances were assigned to potency categories. The assignment is based on a comprehensive data analysis from in vivo-, in vitro- and in silico- information from literature, also capturing human experience on the frequency of respective allergies, as well as commissioning of targeted in vivo- and in vitro- tests in order to fill in data gaps. The in vivo test (LLNA) was used for 4 curing agents and one reactive diluent, an in vitro test for protein binding (DPRA) was performed for 10 reactive diluents and, finally, for 16 curing agents and 4 reactive diluents an in vitro keratinocyte activation test (KeratinoSens™) was initiated.

Results:

Differentiation according to potency enabled us to discriminate two major potency categories, where 44 of 66 substances were finally handled as if they were "strong" skin sensitisers (either because of qualified data, or because of a tendency estimate or as a precautionary default). The remaining 22 substances were assigned to the category of "weak or moderate" skin sensitisers (again, either because of qualified data or as a tendency estimate). In this project we also developed a concept for a tripartite "epoxy resin information System" (EIS) with a) a comprehensive list on epoxy resin ingredient substances, containing further substance specific characteristics, b) a calculation module to perform the aggregation mixture assessment, and c) background information to implement improvements in occupational safety in order to avoid allergies from exposure to epoxy resin products.

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