Mutagenicity of burnt gun propellants
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
The use of the Ames/Salmonella assay as a workplace monitoring method is a long-standing practice at LLNL. This practice has led to the discovery of very mutagenic soot in and around a 4 inch test gun. To the authors' knowledge this is the first finding of mutagenic components in the residue from gun propellants, although there have been numerous reports of mutagenic compounds associated with high explosives -- compounds of entirely different chemical composition (Won et al., 1976). In addition, Ase et al., 1985, analyzed the propellant combustion products of both a M16 rifle and a 105 mm caliber gun with HPLC and GC/MS methods, and found a number of PAHs with known toxicological effects. No biological analysis was done on the residues. Further investigation in our laboratory found that direct acting mutagens where produced upon open burning of the propellants. Small gauge firearms when tested also showed mutagenic residue. Preliminary efforts to identify the mutagenic components estimate that 2-3 compounds are responsible for the biological activity. The identity of these compounds is under investigation. 8 refs., 4 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/DP
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 5645138
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-101730; CONF-8907113-9; ON: DE90000191
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 5. international conference on environmental mutagens, Cleveland, OH (USA), 10-15 Jul 1989
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
COMBUSTION
RESIDUES
GUNS
POWDERS
PROBABILISTIC ESTIMATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
SOOT
MUTAGEN SCREENING
AROMATICS
BIOASSAY
DIPHENYLCARBAZONES
MUTAGENS
NITROCELLULOSE
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
SURFACE CLEANING
CARBAZONES
CARBOHYDRATES
CARBONIC ACID DERIVATIVES
CELLULOSE ESTERS
CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CLEANING
ESTERS
EXPLOSIVES
HYDROCARBONS
NITRIC ACID ESTERS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
POLYSACCHARIDES
SACCHARIDES
SCREENING
SURFACE FINISHING
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
500200 - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)
990230 - Mathematics & Mathematical Models- (1987-1989)