ASTM E981-04(2012)
Standard Test Method for Estimating Sensory Irritancy of Airborne Chemicals
- Standard No.
- ASTM E981-04(2012)
- Release Date
- 2004
- Published By
- American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
- Status
- Replace By
- ASTM E981-19
- Latest
- ASTM E981-19
- Scope
- 1.1 It provides positive recognition of sensory irritants of widely varying potencies.
3.2 This test method can be used for a variety of divergent purposes, including the assessment of comparative irritancy of compounds or formulations and setting interim exposure levels for the workplace (1, 2).2
3.3 It has been shown that for a wide variety of chemicals and mixtures, a perfect rank order correlation exists between the decreases in respiratory rate in mice and subjective reports of sensory irritation in man (1, 3, 4, 5).
3.4 A quantitative estimate of the sensory irritancy of a wide variety of materials can be obtained from concentration-response curves developed using this method (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9).
3.5 Although this test method is intended to measure sensory irritation of the nasal mucosa, the cornea is innervated by the same nerve. This animal model will, therefore, allow an estimate of the irritant potential of cosmetic ingredients or other household products to the eye, assuming that they can be aerosolized (10).
3.6 This test method is recommended for setting interim guidelines for exposure of humans to chemicals in the workplace, to assess acute sensory irritation resulting from inadvertent spills of household products, and to assess the comparative irritancy of formulations or materials intended for a variety of uses (see
ASTM E981-04(2012) history
