Cytogenetic characteristics of herbicide production workers in Ufa

In the present study, we investigated the effect of dioxin-containing products on the cytogenetic characteristics of peripheral blood lymphocytes of herbicide plant workers in Ufa. We found that the mean incidence of cells with chromosomal abberations (CHA) was two fold higher in the herbicide plant workers than the mean incidence level of controls groups consisting of people with no professional contact to herbicides or hospital stuff working in the close vicinity of the herbicide plant in Ufa (for both cases: p<0.05). Moreover, the mean CHA cell incidence in the controls groups was also two times higher than the average level of spontaneous abberations in humans. The chemical herbicides 2,4,5-trichlorphenol (2,4,5-T) and 2,4- dichlorophenoxiacetic acid (2,4-D) appeared to affect various cellular cycle phases. Chromosomal type abberations occurred in the G0 stage of cellular cycle and chromatic type aberrations in the G2 stage. In the S stage, the aberrations of both types were observed. Our results indicate that the herbicides 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D have mutagenic effects in humans.