Safety of Hibitane. I. Laboratory experiments.

The safety evaluation of chlorhexidine (Hibitane) in animal species will be briefly reviewed. The relevance of these studies to human use will be discussed, and species comparisons made where possible. Animal studies with chlorhexidine were begun more than two decades ago and the evaluation of its safety has been under continual review ever since. Chlorhexidine is poorly absorbed after oral administration, well tolerated after parenteral administration and its percutaneous absorption is abolutely minimal. No clinical or histological effects have been obtained in any animal study to cause hesitation in the light of proliferating applications of chlorhexidine in human use. The various toxicological studies in animals will be described and in particular the results of a 2-year study in rats will be outlined. In this, as an in earlier long-term study, there were no effects whatsoever to suggest that chlorhexidine treatment could give rise to any kind of tumourigenic effect or any other toxic sign.