Mutagenicity assessment of textile dyes from Sanganer (Rajasthan).

Sanganer town, district Jaipur (Rajasthan, India) is famous worldwide for its hand block dyeingand textileprinting industries. These industries use a variety of chemicals and dyesduring processing and finishing of raw materials. Most of the textile dyesused by these industries have not been evaluated for their impact on health and the environment. The workers in these industries are exposed to such dyeswith no control over the length and frequency of exposure. Further, untreated and sometimes even treated effluents from these industries are released into surface waters of Amani Shah drainage or through the drainage systems, seep into the ground water and adjoining water bodies. Since many textile dyesare known carcinogens and mutagens, a complete evaluation of the safety of these dyesin the human environment must include an evaluation of their genotoxicity or mutagenicity. A total of 12 textile dyesfrom Sanganer were tested for their mutagenicity, by Ames Salmonella reversion assay using strain TA 100 of Salmonella typhimurium. Only 1 dye, Red 12 B showed absence of mutagenicactivity. The remaining 11 dyeswere all positively mutagenic.