ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to find out the cytogenetic changes that may occur among workers formulating pesticides as measured by chromosomal aberrations [CA] and sister chromatid exchanges [SCEs] endpoints in their peripheral lymphocytes. Forty three workers from Kafr Ziat pesticide company, Egypt, which formulating variety of pesticides [mainly Organophosphorus] were *matched as regards to age, sex and socioeconomic status with twenty individuals working as clerks. All subjects were not exposed to x-ray-drug therapy or viral infection at least six months prior to the study. Smoking as a confounding factor was taken into consideration. Two whole blood cultures were setup for each individual. Harvest was made at 48 hrs and 72 hrs for [CA] and [SCEs] respectively. All studied individuals were males. Age was 43 +/- 7.3 ys among exposed workers compared to 40.7 +/- 6.1 ys among controls. [p>0.05], the duration of formulating pesticides was 17+2 +/- 5.4 ys. The range of [CA] among exposed group was [2-8%] with average frequency 5.4% compared to 2.8% among control, the difference proved to be statistically significant, [p<0.001]. Types of damage were mainly of chromarid type aberrations as gaps and breaks. Dicentrics and exchange figures were also reported. As regards SCEs [Mean +/- SD], they were 9.7 +/- 3.5 among exposed group versus 5.6 +/- 2.4 among control. Again, the difference proved to be statistically highly significant [p<0.001]. We conclude that formulating pesticides have a high risk effects on human genome