Cytogenetic changes in ethylene oxide-exposed workers: a challenge to occupational medicine.

Ethylene oxide is a colorless gas that can cause neoplastic disease (leukemia, stomach cancer) in animals and humans. Its mutagenic potential is expressed by chromosome aberrations and sister chromatid exchange, as has been shown in numerous studies of groups exposed to ethylene oxide. The results of our pilot study on the effects of exposure to high levels of ethylene oxide show chromosome breakage in exposed individuals at twice the frequency of the normal population. Although these are preliminary findings, they justify urgent, specific protection from further exposure.