Mutagens in the feces of 3 South-African populations at different levels of risk for colon cancer.

The incidence of mutagens in the feces of 3 South-African populations at different risk levels for colon cancer has been determined. Lyophilized fecal samples were extracted with ether and the mutagenicity of the extracts determined using the Salmonella/mammalian microsome mutagenicity test. 19% of the samples from urban white South-Africans, a population at a high risk for colon cancer, were mutagenic using Salmonella typhimurium strain TA100. This incidence was significantly greater (p less than 0.001) than the incidence of mutagen excretion in the low-risk populations of urban blacks (2%) and rural blacks (0%). This pattern was also obtained using Salmonella typhimurium strain TA98. The incidence of mutagen excretion for urban whites was 10%, as compared to 5% and 2% for urban and rural blacks, respectively.