ABSTRACT
There is an urgent need for techniques to be used in monitoring chemical genotoxicity. Our environment contains a vast variety of agents that are detrimental to human health. Agents that are acutely toxic are readily detected because the immediate effects allow rapid identification of the source of toxicity. Mutation or tumors are not the immediate result of an exposure to mutagenic or carcinogenic agent. The latent period for tumor induction in humans may be as long as 20 years. A source of mutagenic or carcinogenic activity may only be detected after many persons have been exposed for many years.
