Genotoxicity of polycyclic musk fragrances in the sister-chromatid exchange test.

The synthetic polycyclic musk fragrance compounds Galaxolide (1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethyl-cyclo-penta-(g)-2-++ +benzopyrane, Tonalide (7-acetyl-1,1,3,4,4,6-hexamerthyltetraline), Celestolide (4-acetyl-1,1-dimethyl-6-tert, butylindane), Phantolide (6-acetyl-1,1,2,3,3,5-hexamethylindane), Cashmeran (6,7-dihydro-1,1,2,3,3-pentamethyl-4-(5H) indanone) and Traseolide (5-acetyl-1,1,2,6-tetramethyl-3-isopropylindane) are widely used as fragrance ingredients in perfumes, lotions and detergents; as food additives in cigarettes and fish baits. Several studies identified polycyclic musk fragrances in aquatic environment samples, human milk and human adipose tissue as highly lipophil with human lymphocytes.