Abstract
Several types of pollutants are currently entering the territorial waters of Kuwait from a variety of sources. Some pollutants, especially petrochemicals, are known to be potentially mutagenic and/or carcinogenic. Some of these chemical pollutants may enter the tissues of aquatic organisms and eventually the human body. The presence of such chemicals in the marine environment might create a serious health hazard. The marine environment of Kuwait was monitored for the presence of mutagenic chemicals using living organisms such as shrimp, clams and algae as bioindicators. These organisms were collected from selected sites within Kuwait territorial waters. Their tissues were extracted in ethanol and screened for genetically active chemicals by two standard bacterial assays, the Fluctuation Test and the Ames Test. Salmonella typhimurium TA98 was used as a tester strain. The data obtained from this study indicated that the shrimp, algae and clam samples were polluted with low concentration of frameshift mutagens. Due to the limited scope and nature of this study it was impossible to determine the source(s) of input or the chemical nature of these pollutants.
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Al-Mossawi, M.A.J., Salama, M. & Salem, A. The detection of mutagenic pollutants in marine organisms of Kuwait. Water Air Soil Pollut 22, 131–141 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00163094
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00163094