The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #72095

J. Horacio Tovalin-Ahumada, MS¹, Emilio Rojas, PhD², Mahara Valverde, PhD², and Maria Morandi, PhD³. (1) Southwest Center of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Texas-Houston, 1200 Herman Pressler, 10th floor west, Houston, TX 77030, 713 500 9445, jtovalin@sph.uth.tmc.edu, (2) Instituto de Investigaciones Biomedicas, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Av. Universidad s.n., Mexico City, Mexico, (3) School of Public Health, University of Texas - Houston Health Science Center, SW Center for Occupational and Environmenta Health, P.O. Box 20186, Houston, TX 77225-0186

INTRODUCTION There are few reports about the presence of genetic effects in workers exposed to air pollutants. In Mexico City more than 250 thousand outdoor workers are at risk of this situation. OBJECTIVE This study compared the presence of DNA damage in outdoor and indoor workers, from Mexico City and Puebla, and its relationship with the exposure to air pollutants. METHODS A group of taxi drivers, bus drivers and street vendors, and other of office workers were recruited, obtaining two non-probability samples, one of 39 workers from Mexico City and another one of 15 from Puebla. Capillary blood samples were collected to detect presence of genetic damage using the “Comet Assay”. The levels of exposure to air pollutants were obtained by personal monitoring. RESULTS The outdoor workers median comet tail length (TL) was significantly greater than the indoor workers TL(46.70, and 27.70 µm). In Mexico City, the street vendors and taxi-drivers had a greater median TL (65.84, and 48.62 µm) than two sub-groups of office workers (27.39, and 27.22 µm). In Puebla the bus-drivers and office workers presented similar TL values (46.68 and 41.04 µm). The exposure to PM 2.5, MTBE, and Trimethyl benzene in Mexico City had a positive trend with the TL values. No association between level of exposure and TL were found in Puebla. It can be concluded that the outdoor workers from Mexico City have a higher frequency of genetic damage, and this is probably associated with their exposure to air pollutants.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to:
• 1. Recognize the numeric importance of the outdoor workers in developing countries.
• 2. Identify the group of outdoor workers most expose to air pollutants
• 3. Describe the characteristics of the Comet Assay, and its utility.
• 4. Analyze the possible health impact of the exposure to air pollutants in these groups of workers.

Keywords: Occupational Exposure, Genetics

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.