Developmental Toxicity Evaluation of Several Cosmetic Ingredients in the Hydra Assay

The developmental toxicity hazard potential of six cosmetic products was determined in the in vitro Hydra assay. These studies were conducted to supplement available toxicological information and provide an indication of the priority of these compounds for higher level (in vivo) developmental toxicity testing. All but one ingredient, potassium sorbate, was predicted by the assay to be generally equally or more toxic to adults than to embryos and, therefore, to be low-priority chemicals for more elaborate tests. In contrast, assay results suggest that potassium sorbate is a prime candidate for higher-level animal developmental toxicology testing. The endpoints for this in vitro prescreen were ‘set’ some years ago to avoid false negatives as much as possible, but approximately 7% false positives result. Therefore, it is premature to consider sorbate as being uniquely hazardous to in utero development until this is established by testing in pregnant laboratory mammals.