Genotoxic effects in peripheral blood and urine of workers exposed to low level benzene.

Blood samples were obtained from a population of refinery workers representing different age groups. Sixty six men with low average exposure to benzene and 33 male controls were investigated. An examination of cell cycle kinetics and sister chromatid exchange was carried out on control and exposed individuals. No significant differences were found between groups of individuals varying in their drinking and smoking habits or their exposure to diagnostic x rays. Individuals with the lowest and highest phenol values were examined for urine mutagenicity, with urinary phenol used here as an indicator of benzene exposure. There was no difference in the number of revertant colonies in strains TA98 and 100 between the high and low urinary phenol groups. There were also no differences in any of the biochemical measures or haematological parameters investigated in all the individuals except that higher values for mean corpuscular volume were found in exposed than in control individuals. These values, however, were within the normal clinical range.