ABSTRACT
Environmental damages or disturbances to genetic material are studied under the scope of several areas, such as toxicology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics. These chemical or physical injuries on the DNA structure can promote changes and damages that are evaluated by genotoxic studies. Genotoxicity is the harmful action of a xenobiotic agent (chemical or physical) on DNA resulting in genetic mutation. This harm may result in tumors (somatic cells) or be transmitted from generation to generation (germline cells), affecting future generations developing diseases or malformations.
