Editing Draize test (section)

{{Short description|Cosmetics toxicity test performed on animals}}
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The '''Draize test''' is an acute [[toxicity test]] devised in 1944 by [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) [[toxicologists]] John H. Draize and Jacob M. Spines. Initially used for testing cosmetics, the procedure involves applying 0.5&nbsp;mL or 0.5&nbsp;g of a test substance to the eye or skin of a restrained, conscious animal, and then leaving it for a set amount of time before rinsing it out and recording its effects.<ref name="RDS"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Carbone |first=Larry |date=17 June 2004 |title=What Animals Want: Expertise and Advocacy in Laboratory Animal Welfare Policy |url=http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780195161960.do |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press  |page=63 |isbn=978-0-19-516196-0}}[Used as a source for "conscious and restrained."]</ref> The animals are observed for up to 14 days for signs of [[erythema]] and [[edema]] in the skin test, and redness, swelling, discharge, ulceration, hemorrhaging, cloudiness, or blindness in the tested eye. The test subject is commonly an [[albino]] rabbit, though other species are used too, [[animal testing on dogs|including dogs]].<ref>Carbone 2004, p. 24, with an image, fig 2.1, of two restrained rabbits and one dog undergoing Draize testing, citing ''The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics''.</ref> The animals are euthanized after testing if the test renders irreversible damage to the eye or skin.  Animals may be re-used for testing purposes if the product tested causes no permanent damage. Animals are typically reused after a "wash out" period during which all traces of the tested product are allowed to disperse from the test site.<ref name=NAVS>[http://www.navs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ain_pt_animal_tests Animals in Product Testing] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516043819/http://www.navs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ain_pt_animal_tests |date=May 16, 2006 }}, National Anti-Vivisection Society, retrieved 29 June 2009.</ref>

The tests are controversial. They are viewed as cruel as well as unscientific by critics because of the differences between rabbit and human eyes, and the subjective nature of the visual evaluations. The FDA supports the test, stating that "to date, no single test, or battery of tests, has been accepted by the [[scientific community]] as a replacement [for] ... the Draize test".<ref>"[http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/newsletters/v5n2/5n2wilco.htm Validation of In Vitro Methods: Regulatory Issues] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060221063215/http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/newsletters/v5n2/5n2wilco.htm |date=February 21, 2006 }}", Animal Welfare Information Center Newsletter, Summer 1994, Vol. 5, no. 2</ref> Because of its controversial nature, the use of the Draize test in the U.S. and Europe has declined in recent years and is sometimes modified so that [[anaesthetic]]s are administered and lower doses of the test substances used.<ref>[http://altweb.jhsph.edu/faqs.htm#16 Alternatives to Animal Testing Web Site] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209092736/http://altweb.jhsph.edu/faqs.htm#16 |date=February 9, 2006 }}, retrieved 29 June 2009.</ref> Chemicals already shown to have adverse effects ''[[in vitro]]'' are not currently used in a Draize test,<ref>[http://3r-training.tierversuch.ch/en/module_3r/draize_test_replacement/eye_irritation Eye irritation caused by chemicals], 3R Research Foundation, retrieved 29 June 2009.</ref> thereby reducing the number and severity of tests that are carried out.