Genotoxic monitoring of workers occupationally exposed to hydrocarbons in petroleum refinery

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work is to evaluate the genetic and reproductive risks in a populations of male workers in a petroleum refinery, through studying chromosomal aberrations and sperm changes. The study was carried out at the Coke Complex Plant of a petroleum refinery, where fuel oil is converted to middle distillate, gases, gasoline, and coke. One of the 3 shifts has been randomly selected for the study, and included 43 subjects. A control group of 20 administrative and clerical workers were selected from the same plant to avoid the healthy worker effect. A questionnaire was designed for the collection of personal, occupational, reproductive and medical data. Blood samples were collected from 50% of the exposure group, as well as the control group, for cytogenetic studies. Fifty well spread metaphases were analyzed for each blood sample. Semen samples were collected after 3 days of Abstinences, and analyzed by gross and microscopic examination according to standard criteria. The 2 groups were comparable regarding personal and job characteristics except for exposure