Genotoxic effects of pesticides.

Epidemiologic data showed an increase in the number of cancer cases in persons involved in agricultural production using pesticides. According to IARC, more than 25% of pesticides are classified as oncogens. In recent years, the concept of malignant tumors developing after environmental contamination with chemicals has been accepted. Changes in genetic material are at the basis of this process because many environmental pollutants are chemical carcinogens and mutagens with the capacity of causing DNA damage. DNA damage was proposed as a useful parameter for assessing the genotoxic properties of environmental pollutants. The correlation between exposure to carcinogenic substance and the level of DNA damage is essential. Pesticides are highly biologically active chemicals. They may interact with DNA and damage its structure. Such interaction may be critical for the manifestation of carcinogenic properties of different chemicals. We report on the organotropic genotoxic effects of different chemical classes of pesticides (decis, cypermetrin, 2,4-D, polyram) studied by means of alkaline unwinding assay DNA.