Studies upon the genetic effects of environmental chemicals: the coordinated research programme of the European Economic Community.

The objectives of the European Economic Community's Environmental Research and Development Programmes are to provide a scientific basis for current environmental policy and future environmental management. This paper reviews the work and achievements of the studies carried out by the collaborating laboratories during the period 1981-1985 of the 3rd Programme within the research area 'The Genetic Effects of Environmental Chemicals'. Research efforts supported by the programme may be divided into (i) those involving the validation of current genotoxicity assays and the evaluation of their use in community regulatory activities such as the classification and labelling of chemicals, (ii) those involving the characterization of the metabolic and genotoxic profile of specific chemicals and (iii) those involving the development of new technologies suitable for the hazard identification and risk evaluation of genotoxins. Validation studies have included those of the host mediated assay (and its various modifications), unscheduled DNA synthesis assays and a variety of Drosophila genotoxicity assays. New developments include assays for the detection of chromosome aneuploidy, protocols for cell transformation studies, the detection and quantification of genotoxic lesions, techniques for the study of transplacental genotoxicity, assays for the detection of genotoxic activity in the liver and in germ cells and monitoring techniques for the assessment of both environmental quality and genotoxin exposure in individuals and in populations. The coordination of research effort, such as that described here provides an effective mechanism for the concentration of research on specific problems, for the rapid dissemination of experimental data and the transfer of technology within the European Community.