Modern approaches to the assessment of pesticide mutagenicity

Research on potential mutagenic pesticide activity is an important part of their toxicological and hygienic assessment. The present article provides international and Russian legal and normative documents, which regulate such investigations. There is presented a list of the principal Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) protocols in the field of genetic toxicology which reflect protocols in force, newly adopted and canceled protocols along with the revised versions of existing documents. As an example, major changes of the research protocol for mutagenic properties of chemical compounds in mammalian erythrocyte micronucleus test in vivo are reviewed. The article also provides the minimal set of methods required for the evaluation of the pesticide-induced initial DNA damage, gene, chromosome and/or genome mutations. The article notes the need for the mutagenic assessment of generic pesticides to verify the equivalence of active ingredients and carry out further studies of the combined actions of pesticide mixtures.