Short Communication

The mutagenic testing of different brands of commonly used insecticides

A. Akintonwa, O. Awodele, S. O. Olayemi, I. A. Oreagba and O. M. Olaniyi

Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Idi-Araba, University of Lagos, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: awodeleo@yahoo.com.

Accepted 18 January, 2008

Insecticides are chemical agents used to control insects, but humans are usually exposed to insecticides and this may have a long term toxicological effects on their health. Different brands of insecticides including Baygon^R, Mobile^R, Mortein^R and Total^R were subjected to Ames spot Forward Mutation Assay, using Escherichia coli. The assay was examined for the presence of revertant strains of the organism in the presence and absence of white albino rat liver metabolizing enzymes (S9). The results showed that these insecticides produced no mutant strain of the organism and no alteration in the phenotypic characteristics of the organism as compared with the standard mutagen (ethidium bromide), which produced revertant strains of the organism and altered the phenotypic characteristics of the organism. Finally, this result showed that these insecticides can be considered not mutagenic in bacteria and may not be mutagenic or carcinogenic in human.

Key words: Insecticides, mutant strains, ames spot assay, bacteria.