The presence of genotoxic substances in the river Danube (Yugoslavia) five months after bombardment of the industrial zone of Pancevo (Yugoslavia) as revealed by the Allium anaphase-telophase genotoxicity assay

Vujosevic, M.; Blagojevic, J.; Martinovic-Vitanovic, V.; Kalafatic, V.

The presence of genotoxic substances in the river Danube (Yugoslavia) five months after bombardment of the industrial zone of Pancevo (Yugoslavia) as revealed by the Allium anaphase-telophase genotoxicity assay

2001

Vujosevic, M. | Blagojevic, J. | Martinovic-Vitanovic, V. | Kalafatic, V. (Institute for Biological Research "Sinisa Stankovic", Belgrade (Yugoslavia))

The consequence of aerial bombardment of the petrochemical complex, oil refinery and chemical industry including the HIP "Azotara" fertilizer factory in the vinicity of Pancevo (Yugoslavia) in April 1999 was that a large amount of dangerous chemicals leaked into the canal collecting industrial wastewater and flowed pouring out into the Danube river. As the level of water in the Danube river was high at that time, leaking of chemicals from the canal into the river lasted for a long time. Therefore the aim of this work was to check if toxic and genotoxic effects were present 5 months after the bombardment. Three samples of Danube water (upstream from the canal, just after the opening of the canal and downstream from the canal) were used for this purpose. All three samples plus a sample from the canal were also chemically analyzed. The Allium anaphase-telophase test was used to examine the toxicity and genotoxicity of water samples because it can be used without any concentration or purification of samples before testing. Clear inhibition of growth, compared to the control sample, was produced by the second sample. This sample, taken just after entry of the canal was the only one which produced a statistically significant increase in the number of chromosome aberrations in comparison with the control sample (X**2(1)=10.7, p0.001). The results of our test and the chemical analyses of the water samples, show that both toxic and genotoxic effects of the Danube water may occur due to water coming in from the canal even 5 months after the chemicals had leaked into the canal.

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