At FAQ, we will choose the most frequently asked questions to highlight and answer in each bulletin. If your specific question and answer does not appear in an issue, please feel free to contact us at 1-800-2-INVITRO; we will be happy to assist you.
Although there are probably less than a handful of competitors in the field of in vitro (non-animal) irritancy/toxicity testing (Advanced Tissue Sciences ‘ATS’ – manufacturer of Skin2 – recently discontinued the manufacture and sale of its product), all of them are living cell-based systems. This means that, in comparison to InVitro’s technology, they are more expensive, the shelf life is much shorter and the results correlate no better. Quite frankly, our biggest competitors are prospect companies which do not test AT ALL. We also know that there are companies out there using pH to determine corrosive levels of their hazardous materials in an effort to comply* with Department of Transportation regulations. Yes, a box of pH strips is very inexpensive and the cost to have an outside laboratory run a pH test is also less expensive than a Corrositex test; however, these companies are not aware that pH oftentimes overclassifies materials, thus significantly increasing costs for cumulative packing, shipping and insurance. In these instances, InVitro International has saved businesses who will listen lots of money.
*pH testing is NOT approved by the Department of Transportation(DOT) for the classification of corrosive levels of hazardous materials — as you know, Corrositex is approved by the DOT for this purpose.
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