Mutagenic and genotoxic activity of chosen dyes and surface active compounds used in the textile industry.

This study was designed to investigate the mutagenic and genotoxic properties of ten dyes and four surface active compounds using Salmonella/microsome assay and the micronucleus test. Five of the investigated dyes (Acid Blue 7, Acid Green 16, Direct Black 19:1, Basic Red 22, Basic Orange 28) possessed mutagenic activity with regard to test strains of Salmonella. In addition, all of them increased the frequency of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes in the bone marrow of mice. Three other compounds (Acid Blue 62, Direct Yellow 12, Direct Red 81), which were not mutagenic in the Salmonella/microsome assay, were genotoxic in the micronucleus test. The other two dyes (Reactive Blue 13, Acid Red 213), as well as tested surface active compounds, did not exert mutagenic and genotoxic effects, and therefore, it is most probable that they do not have carcinogenic properties. Besides, it was noted that Acid Blue 62, Direct Black 19:1, Direct Red 81 and Basic Orange 28 cause a significant decrease in the ratio polychromatic to normochromatic erythrocytes in the bone marrow of mice, which means that, at the doses used in the experiment, they are toxic to the erythrocyte series cells of bone marrow. The other compounds under consideration have no such effect.