Biomonitoring of human populations exposed to pesticides

The goal of this project is to investigate the most appropiate analitical methods (DNA adducts, hemoglobin adducts, chromosomal aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges, micronuclei, urine analysis and cholinesterase, among others) to identify the genotoxic risk in humans occupationally exposed to pesticides, in order to obtain a biological estimation on the exposure levels. The group of Bellaterra, in collaboration with the Centre de Seguretat i Higiene de Barcelona, is evaluating the frequencies of chromosomal aberrations (CA) and sister chromatide exchanges (SCE) in peripheral limphocytes of agricultural workers from the Maresme. Cytogenetic data are compared to analitical and haematological values, and to occupational characteristics and life style, according to the information obtained in previous questionaries, samples from a hundred agricultural workers and from about a hundred con