Mutagenicity test of extracts of airborne dust from the municipal incinerator of Trieste.

The composition of the effluents from incineration plants has been studied by several authors, and some chemical compounds have been identified as hazardous to the health of the people living in the environs of such plants. On the other hand, very little is known about the chemical risks for the people working inside the incineration plants. In the present paper, an evaluation of these risks has been attempted by testing for the mutagenic activity of the extracts of airborne particulates collected inside the working area of the Municipal Incinerator of Trieste. Most samples of dust were proved to be mutagenic by the Ames test, indicating that the environment is heavily polluted with incompletely burnt materials. In fact, when a sample of settled dust was heated at high temperatures, its mutagenic activity disappeared. In addition, samples of solid residues collected at the end of the combustion process showed only weak, if any, mutagenic response.