Use of bioassay methods to evaluate mutagenicity of ambient air collected near a municipal-waste combustor

Technical Report · Fri Apr 28 04:00:00 EDT 1989

OSTI ID:6145724

Watts, R; Fitzgerald, B; Heil, G; Garabedian, H; Williams, R

An ambient air sampling study was conducted around a municipal waste combustor with a primary goal being to develop procedures to evaluate the emissions of organic mutagens resulting from incomplete combustion of municipal waste. The products of incomplete combustion from incineration include complex mixtures of organics, particularly polycyclic aromatic compounds, which are present after atmospheric dilution and cooling in emissions as semi-volatile or particle bound organic compounds. Combustion emissions are generally recognized as a potential cancer risk since they contain many carcinogenic and mutagenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Analyzing such a complex mixture for the presence of even a few selected chemicals is difficult and provides risk information on only a fraction of the chemicals present. Bioassay methods, however, may be directly applied to evaluate the mutagenic and carcinogenic activity of the complex organics from combustion emissions. The Salmonella (Ames) assay was used to determine the mutagenicity associated with particles from ambient air collected near a municipal waste combustor. Dose-response data was generated, and mutagenicity concentrations were calculated to demonstrate the utility of bioassay in assessing emissions from municipal waste combustion.

• Research Organization: Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (USA). Health Effects Research Lab.
• OSTI ID: 6145724
• Report Number(s): PB-91-109389/XAB; EPA--600/J-89/446
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
560300 -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
AROMATICS
BACTERIA
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
COMBUSTION PRODUCTS
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
HYDROCARBONS
INCINERATORS
MICROORGANISMS
MUNICIPAL WASTES
MUTAGEN SCREENING
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
POLLUTION
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
SALMONELLA
SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM
SCREENING
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
WASTES