Research Progress on Environmental Mutagenesis, Carcinogenesis and Teratogenesis in China

Summary

China is a developing country, having a population of over one billion people. Of course, she has her own special conditions of climate, environment, flora and fauna. Along with the progress of modernization, the country is also facing the problem of environmental pollution through the release of industrial wastes into the air and waterways. This, together with population pressure and agricultural problems, has already received the wide attention of the Chinese public. China is prepared to exercise quality control and environmental monitoring, and the application of basic scientific methodology to the solution of practical problems has been found essential to the development of genetic toxicology. Some 30 to 40 independent qualified laboratories for identifying mutagens are now operating in China. They are distributed over more than 15 provinces. Most of these assays are used to help identify mutagens, some can also identify carcinogens. Of these laboratories, two-thirds are working mutagenetic assays and the other one-third is doing either carcinogenetic or teratogenetic assays. The in vitro assays use a variety of cell types ranging from bacterial to human, from somatic cells to germ cells; other tests can be done directly on insects, rodents and plants. With a regulatory framework gradually taking shape, mutagenicity testing is becoming a big business. Nowadays, all new drugs, pesticides, food additives, contraceptives, and even certain suspect traditional Chinese medicinal herbs are subjected to the Ames test, micronucleus test, chromosome aberrations and SCE analysis of mouse bone-marrow cells in routine screening procedures. At present, our research studies in the field of environmental mutagenesis, carcinogenesis and teratogenesis place more emphasis on the practical and applied aspects. In the long run, however, it is conceivable that attention will also be directed to the quantitative approaches and mechanism will also be directed to the quantitative approaches and mechanism studies in order to contribute substantially to closing the gap between the basic and applied works.