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USE OF BIOASSAY METHODS TO EVALUATE MUTAGENICITY OF AMBIENT AIR COLLECTED NEAR A MUNICIPAL WASTE COMBUSTOR
Citation:
Watts, R., B. Fitzgerald, G. Heil, H. Garbedian, R. Williams, S. Warren, L. Fradkin, AND J. Lewtas. USE OF BIOASSAY METHODS TO EVALUATE MUTAGENICITY OF AMBIENT AIR COLLECTED NEAR A MUNICIPAL WASTE COMBUSTOR. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-89/446 (NTIS PB91109389).
Description:
An ambient air sampling study was conducted around a municipal waste combustor with a primary goal being to develop procedures to evaluate the emissions of organic mutagens resulting from incomplete combustion of municipal waste. he products of incomplete combustion from incineration include complex mixtures of organics, particularly polycyclic aromatic compounds, which are present after atmospheric dilution and cooling in emissions as semi-volatile or particle bound organic compounds. ombustion emissions are generally recognized as a potential cancer risk since they contain many carcinogenic and mutagenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. nalyzing such a complex mixture for the presence of even a few selected chemicals is difficult and provides risk information on only a fraction of the chemicals present. ioassay methods, however, may be directly applied to combustion emissions. he Salmonella (Ames) assay was used to determine the mutagenicity associated with particles from ambient air collected near a municipal waste combustor. ose-response data was generated, and mutagenicity concentrations were calculated to demonstrate the utility of bioassay in assessing emissions from municipal waste combustion.