Evaluation of DNA Damage for Some Iraqi Workers Employ in a Wooden Furniture Factories

Wood is among the most universe substantial resources and one of the main common kinds of occupational exposure. For this , the research goal was the assess of the genotoxicity effects of wood dust exposure for some Iraqi workers employed in a wooden furniture factories using alkaline comet assay based on measuring the DNA damage that occurred in the white blood cells (WBC) , aimed to minimize the health risks from dangerous substances in the workplace. Fifty workers in a wooden furniture factories and 50 apparently healthy control were used in this study. DNA damage was significantly higher in the wood s workers , than in the control subjects according to the comet parameters. Thus , significantly higher levels of DNA damage observed in wood s workers in whom either smoked ( tail length 40.15 ± 0.54; tail DNA % 32.12 ± 0.87 and tail moment 12.90 ± 0.98) or non-smokers (tail length 36.21 ± 0.43 ; tail DNA % 29.56 ± 0.34 and tail moment 10.70 ± 0.10) than in smoker (tail length 12.81 ± 0.89; tail DNA % 6.60 ± 0.06 and tail moment 0.846 ± 0.02) and nonsmokers (tail length 2.63 ± 0.33 ; tail DNA % 2.29 ± 0.07 and tail moment 0.060 ± 0.03) of control group. Present study deduce the relationship of the exposure to wood dust with high level of DNA damage. In conclusion, the results indicated that there was a possibility of using the changes in the level of comet assay as try for the detection of DNA damage of workers employed in a wooden furniture factories . Also, the results obtaining was confirmed by usefulness of the alkaline comet assay as a sensitive additional marker in the regular health screening of workers occupationally exposed to dangerous wooden dust.