The proper disposal of hazardous wastes currently generated and clean up of waste disposal sites of the past are challenges facing regulatory agencies in the industrialized nations. The estimation of levels of toxicity is an essential step in prioritizing industrial effluents and solid wastes for treatment and disposal. A number of short-term bioassays have been developed to supplement information from chemical analysis for evaluating the potential of chemical complex mixtures to induce adverse human health effects and environmental contamination. Among these bioassays, plant test systems provide simple, inexpensive, and rapid means of evaluating toxic effects of industrial wastes based on multimedia exposure. Two such assays, Tradescantia paludosa and Zea mays, have been used for monitoring the genotoxic effects of ambient air, municipal wastes, industrial effluents, solid wastes, water sediments, and pesticides. The Arabidopsis embryo assay was applied to evaluate the mutagenicity of complex environmental mixtures including industrial effluents and sludges. The industrial waste samples were tested either unextracted or as dichloromethane aqueous extracts. The significance of short-term plant bioassays for use in environmental assessment will be discussed.

"Published in ASTM STP 1062, vol. 2." Microfiche.