Guidelines for the testing of chemicals for mutagenicity / Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products, and the Environment.

  • Great Britain. Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products, and the Environment.
Date:
1981
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Guidelines for the testing of chemicals for mutagenicity / Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products, and the Environment. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    individual via reproduction. The essence of reproduction is the handing on from one generation to another, via the ovum and spermatozoon, of the complete genetic information necessary to build a new individual resembling its 2 parents. This is achieved by accurate replication of DNA molecules and the passing of copies to the next generation by means of a special type of cell division called meiosis. Consequently, alterations or losses in the base sequence of the DNA molecule and some chromosomal changes may be transmitted as a mutation to succeeding generations. The implications for carcinogenesis are considered in Chapter 4. 1.3 In order to consider the possible untoward effects on human populations of an increase in mutation rates brought about by the presence of mutagens in the environment, it is necessary to establish the facts concerning the current burden of genetic disease, ie the existing background of known human detrimental mutations. Such changes in genetic material make a larger contribution than is generally realized to human malformation and disease. These may be manifest early in life but may also make their first appearance during young adulthood or even later. The total contribution which genetic change makes to human disease and disability is not easy to estimate, but it could affect somewhere in the region of one in 50 of the population. These matters are considered in Chapter 5 while Chapter 6 examines the problems of monitoring the human population and the environment in which they live, to ensure that individuals and groups of individuals are not being exposed to known or unknown mutagens, with consequent increase of the background mutation rates. 1.4 Chapters 7 and 8 deal with the Committee’s recommendations. Many chemicals are known to possess mutagenic properties and the Committee accepts that response to these in humans might present a hazard to future generations. It is therefore necessary to identify and limit the spread of such chemicals into the human environment. The Committee also accepts that if substances have demonstrable mutagenic activity in several test systems this implies possible carcinogenic activity (it being accepted that mutation and malignancy may originate via similar processes), but advises that the mutagenic hazard should be considered in its own right. 1.5 The Committee recommends that initially all new chemicals and products to which human exposure would be extensive and difficult to avoid should be tested for mutagenicity, but subsequently there are two separate issues to consider. The first is to decide if the test results establish with reasonable certainty whether a chemical possesses mutagenic potential or not, and the second is the quite separate issue of evaluating the nature of the presumed hazard and its relevance to man. 1.6 The Committee considers (see para 7, 13) that in the light of present knowledge, the great majority of potentially hazardous chemicals can be detected by a combination of 4 test procedures designed to probe the hereditary machinery sequentially, at increasing levels of complexity. This basic package