Genetic risks caused by occupational chemicals. Use of experimental methods and occupational risk group monitoring in the detection of environmental chemicals causing mutations, cancer and malformations

Abstract

In this article, the underlying principles of genetic toxicology are discussed and its major applications in the field of occupational health are presented. The combination of laboratory testing with the experimental and epidemiologic monitoring of worker populations should make genetic toxicology a powerful instrument in the prevention of occupational and environmental genetic hazards. However, most of the methods applied in genetic toxicology are new and await their final practical validation. Molecular mechanisms in carcinogenesis, mutagenesis and teratogenesis are briefly discussed. The value of short-term screening tests and possibilities for monitoring human populations at risk are considered. The genetic hazards of the ever expanding introduction of chemical products into the human environment are imminent. The effects of such expansion are likely to express themselves as chronic diseases such as cancers and reproductive problems. Moreover, it is possible that environmentally induced genetic lesions contribute to the prevalence of other chronic conditions and diseases including heart and vascular diseases and aging. The possible hazards are not limited to the present generation but are likely to be transmitted to future ones. Such deleterious trends develop slowly, and they may be masked by the many health restoring activities practiced by modern societies. (158 references).