Determination of diesel genotoxicity in firebreathers by micronuclei and nuclear abnormalities in buccal mucosa

Diesel or its derivatives could have aneuploidogenic and/or clastogenic activity. Hence, the genotoxicity of diesel gases has been studied, considering exposure to them as potentially carcinogenic. The results obtained by different authors suggest the need to know the effects of direct and chronic exposure to diesel in humans, as in the case of the street workers called `firebreathers' who fill their buccal cavity with diesel and then spread it to a burning torch many times during the day in order to give a `dragon show' for 5 h a day and 6 days a week. The buccal samples of eight firebreathers were collected, processed and scored according to the criterion established by Tolbert et al., 1992 and then compared with positive and negative control groups. The results revealed that diesel was not micronucleogenic although it induces some nuclear abnormalities.