Chromosome aberrations in workers at a tannery in Iraq.

Blood samples were collected from 17 healthy chromium-exposed workers at a tanning plant near Baghdad city and 13 controls matched for age, period of service and social background. For each individual more than 100 lymphocyte metaphases were examined. The results showed no significant differences in the per cell frequencies of chromatid and isochromatid gaps, single chromatid breaks, various chromosome-type aberrations and all aberrations combined. However, smoking workers exhibited statistically higher frequency of chromosome-type aberrations than non-smoking workers and smoking controls.