Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Occupational and Environmental Medicine logoLink to Occupational and Environmental Medicine
. 1994 Oct;51(10):700–705. doi: 10.1136/oem.51.10.700

Evaluation of phosphine genotoxicity at occupational levels of exposure in New South Wales, Australia.

A Barbosa 1, A M Bonin 1
PMCID: PMC1128080  PMID: 8000496

Abstract

Phosphine has been claimed to cause chromosomal damage at exposures close to the current time weighted average exposure standard of 0.3 ppm (0.4 mg/m3). The current study involved 31 phosphine fumigators and 21 controls during the high fumigation season. All were volunteers and were evaluated for genotoxicity variables, including micronuclei in peripheral blood lymphocytes and urine mutagenicity. In parallel, all fumigators and 17 controls were evaluated for full haematology, multiple biochemical analysis, whole blood organochlorines, and whole blood and serum cholinesterase activity. The results for micronuclei showed no significant differences between fumigators and controls, but detected a strong association between age and increased frequency of micronuclei. Measurement of urine mutagenicity did not show any significant difference between fumigators and controls, but did show increased excretion of mutagens in smokers. All haematological and biochemical variables were within normal ranges, except for some non-specific changes in biochemistry. At monitored occupational exposures of < 2.4 ppm/h our results show no association between phosphine exposure and genotoxic or toxicological effects in fumigators.

Full text

PDF
700

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baker R. S., Darnton-Hill I., Bonin A. M., Arlauskas A., Braithwaite C., Wootton M., Truswell A. S. Urine mutagenicity as an indicator of exposure to dietary mutagens formed during cooking of foods. Environ Health Perspect. 1986 Aug;67:147–152. doi: 10.1289/ehp.8667147. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chugh S. N., Ram S., Mehta L. K., Arora B. B., Malhotra K. C. Adult respiratory distress syndrome following aluminium phosphide ingestion. Report of 4 cases. J Assoc Physicians India. 1989 Apr;37(4):271–272. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Falck K., Gröhn P., Sorsa M., Vainio H., Heinonen E., Holsti L. R. Mutagenicity in urine of nurses handling cytostatic drugs. Lancet. 1979 Jun 9;1(8128):1250–1251. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(79)91939-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fenech M., Morley A. A. Measurement of micronuclei in lymphocytes. Mutat Res. 1985 Feb-Apr;147(1-2):29–36. doi: 10.1016/0165-1161(85)90015-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Fenech M., Morley A. A. The effect of donor age on spontaneous and induced micronuclei. Mutat Res. 1985 Jan-Feb;148(1-2):99–105. doi: 10.1016/0027-5107(85)90212-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Garry V. F., Griffith J., Danzl T. J., Nelson R. L., Whorton E. B., Krueger L. A., Cervenka J. Human genotoxicity: pesticide applicators and phosphine. Science. 1989 Oct 13;246(4927):251–255. doi: 10.1126/science.2799386. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. JONES A. T., JONES R. C., LONGLEY E. O. ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLINICAL ASPECTS OF BULK WHEAT FUMIGATION WITH ALUMINUM PHOSPHIDE. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J. 1964 Jul-Aug;25:376–379. doi: 10.1080/00028896409342607. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Maron D. M., Ames B. N. Revised methods for the Salmonella mutagenicity test. Mutat Res. 1983 May;113(3-4):173–215. doi: 10.1016/0165-1161(83)90010-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Mielzyńska D., Snit M. Urine mutagenicity in workers directly employed in coke production. Pol J Occup Med Environ Health. 1992;5(4):363–371. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Potter W. T., Garry V. F., Kelly J. T., Tarone R., Griffith J., Nelson R. L. Radiometric assay of red cell and plasma cholinesterase in pesticide appliers from Minnesota. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 1993 Mar;119(1):150–155. doi: 10.1006/taap.1993.1054. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Poyen D., De Méo M. P., Botta A., Gouvernet J., Duménil G. Handling of cytostatic drugs and urine mutagenesis. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 1988;61(3):183–188. doi: 10.1007/BF00381017. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Richard F., Aurias A., Couturier J., Dutrillaux A. M., Flüry-Hérard A., Gerbault-Seureau M., Hoffschir F., Lamoliatte E., Lefrançois D., Lombard M. Aneuploidy in human lymphocytes: an extensive study of eight individuals of various ages. Mutat Res. 1993 Mar;295(2):71–80. doi: 10.1016/0921-8734(93)90003-l. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Singh R. B., Rastogi S. S., Singh D. S. Cardiovascular manifestations of aluminium phosphide intoxication. J Assoc Physicians India. 1989 Sep;37(9):590–592. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Wilson R., Lovejoy F. H., Jaeger R. J., Landrigan P. L. Acute phosphine poisoning aboard a grain freighter. Epidemiologic, clinical, and pathological findings. JAMA. 1980 Jul 11;244(2):148–150. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Occupational and Environmental Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES