Non-Volatile Chemical Mutagens in Sediments of the Kanawha River, West Virginia

The Kanawha River in West Virginia was at one time heavily polluted by industrial wastes. Although water quality is significantly improved, pollutants may still reside in river sediments. Sediment samples, taken upstream and downstream from the chemical manufacturing complexes on the river, were examined for the presence of non-volatile mutagens using the Salmonella/mammalian microsome assay. Mutagenic responses were similar in both sites. In methanol extracts, the downstream site contained at least one direct-acting frame-shift mutagen, whereas the upstream sample was mutagenic only in the presence of S9 enzymes.