GENOTOXICITY ASSESSMENT OF WASTE PRODUCTS OF ALUMINUM PLASMA-ETCHING WITH THE SOS CHROMOTEST

We evaluated 36 characteristic waste products from the plasma etching of aluminum for genotoxicity with the SOS chromotest. The majority of the samples showed genotoxic activity in tester strain Escherichia col i PQ37 without metabolic activation using S9 mix. In the presence of S 9, a deactivation of the samples was regularly observed. Comparable st udies with the Salmonella/microsome (Ames) test using tester strains S almonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 indicated actual mutagenicity of waste products. Gas chromatograms of the organic constituents of all w aste products were performed in parallel with the genotoxicity assays. In contrast to the similarity of the peak patterns of all chromatogra ms, the biological effects of individual waste samples showed large di fferences. Information on chemical composition and the SOS chromotest results of a representative sample recovered over a period of 2 years is given. For this sample, the influences of sample preparation and cy totoxic matrix effects on the test parameters are also shown.