Cytogenetic studies of three triazine herbicides I. In vitro studies

Atrazine, simazine, and cyanazine are widely used pre-emergence and post-em ergence triazine herbicides that have made their way into the potable water supply of many agricultural communities, Because of this and the prevalenc e of contradictory cytogenetic studies in the literature on atrazine, simaz ine, and cyanazine, a series of in vitro experiments was performed to inves tigate the ability of these three triazines to induce sister chromatid exch anges (SCEs) and chromosome aberrations (CAs) in human lymphocyte cultures. Our results showed that all three triazines failed to produce any signific ant increases in SCEs or CAs up to the limits of solubility [using 0.5% dim ethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)]. Our results are discussed in light of contradictor y results in the literature. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.