Mutagenicity and Genotoxicity Testing in Environmental Pollution Control

Environmental pollution presents the most unfortunate by-product of human civilization, which is threatening not only humans themselves but also the ecosystem. Pollution can take different forms such as air, water, soil, noise, light, heavy metal, and organic pollutions, but the effects are generally devastating. Among the different effects of pollution, mutagenic and genotoxic effects are long known. These effects are of utmost concern as they can lead to deadly diseases including cancer and can also be passed through future generations, affecting population gene pool and structures. With this realization, several short-term and long-term studies have been carried out to develop databases of mutagenic pollutants. With the developments in mutagenicity testing protocols, new mutagens are regularly being identified. The current chapter highlights the need to include genotoxicity and mutagenicity testing requirements in routine pollution monitoring programs, which are currently based mainly on chemical determination of pollutants.