Effects of pesticides on exposed populations from four European countries

The potential genetic hazard of pesticides to humans is of great concern, in particular in occupational and environmental settings because of their widespread use for domestic and industrial applications. In the present study the genotoxic potentials of commonly applied pesticides have been evaluated using the single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay). This method was used to quantify the level of DNA damage in lymphocytes of farmers who were occupationally exposed to pesticides. Particularly, we measured the amount of DNA damage in isolated human peripheral lymphocytes from agricultural workers from Spain, Hungary, Poland and Greece in comparison to healthy men from the same areas who had no previous occupational exposure to pesticides. All results indicated no statistically significant differences in basal DNA damage between our study groups. In addition, exposure of peripheral blood lymphocytes to hydrogen peroxide or γ-irradiation led to a similar degree of additional DNA damage and subsequent repair for all our studied populations. In conclusion the greenhouse workers who participated in this study had no detectable increased DNA damage or alteration in their cellular response to DNA damage from our control populations.