Measurement of Genotoxic Components in Rotogravure Printing, Rotogravure Inks and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Daniela Pelclová1, Vera Vrbíková2, Vojtech Dadák3, Bohumír Procházka2, and Zdenka Dlasková1

1 Department of Occupational Medicine, First Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
2 National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic
3 Laboratory Aneclab, Ceské Budíjovice, Czech Republic

Corresponding author: Assoc. Prof. Daniela Pelclová, MD, PhD
    Department of Occupational Medicine,
    First Medical Faculty, Charles University,
    Na Bojišti 1, 120 00 Prague, Czech Republic
    Telephone: (+420)-2-292725
    E-mail: pelclova@cesnet.cz

CEJOEM 2000, Vol.6. No.1.:18-24

Key words:
Rotogravure printing, rotogravure inks, genotoxicity, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, toluene, 1-hydroxypyrene, and 3-hydroxybenzo/a/pyrene
 
Abbreviations:
PAHs = polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
3-OH benzo/a/pyrene = 3-hydroxybenzo/a/pyrene
1-OH pyrene = 1-hydroxypyrene

Abstract:
The objective of this study was to distinguish the effect of toluene from the possible effect of printing inks in rotogravure printing, where a higher incidence of chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes of workers has been repeatedly reported. Rotogravure printing inks were examined as a potential source of genotoxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in carbon black, which is present in the black ink. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with carcinogenic properties were not discovered in the inks. The concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the air of the rotogravure workshop reached only tens of ng · m-3, a level comparable with their concentrations in the urban atmosphere of a relatively clean part of the city. Urinary levels of free 1-hydroxypyrene in the group of 23 printers were not significantly different from the control group of 22 persons, and the level of free 3-hydroxybenzo/a/pyrene was under the quantitative limit of both groups.
    These results do not confirm the potential genotoxic danger of PAHs in rotogravure printing, where the widely used toluene is another suspected factor of genotoxicity.

Received:  07 March 2000
Accepted:  25 May 2000
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