Mutagenicity of different textile dye products in Salmonella typhimurium and mouse lymphoma cells

Textile dyes used within the European Union (EU) were examined for available published and unpublished mutagenicity data. Fifty-three dye products that had so far not been investigated for mutagenicity were tested in the bacterial reverse mutation assay with Salmonella typhimurium (Ames test) according to a modification of the OECD 471 guidelines (instead of five strains, only TA98 and/or TA100 were used with and without metabolic activation (S9-mix)). About 28% (15 out of 53) of the dye samples were positive in the Ames test. Fifteen samples showed positive results with TA98, two were positive in TA100. The mutagenicity of nine Ames-positive textile dye products was further investigated in the mouse lymphoma assay (MLA) (OECD 476). Sixty-seven percent (6 out of 9) induced genotoxic effects in the MLA. The induction rates (IR) were between 2.1 and 132 in the bacterial reverse mutation assay and between 2.1 and 15.2 in the MLA. The results confirm previous findings that dye products are marketed that are not sufficiently tested and that show mutagenic effects in in vitro tests. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.