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Occupational health hazards and wide spectrum of genetic damage by the organic solvent fumes at the workplace: A critical appraisal

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Abstract

Long-term exposure to organic solvents is known to affect human health posing serious occupational hazards. Organic solvents are genotoxic, and they can cause genetic changes in the exposed employees' somatic or germ cells. Chemicals such as benzene, toluene, and gasoline induce an excessive amount of genotoxicity results either in genetic polymorphism or culminates in deleterious mutations when concentration crosses the threshold limits. The impact of genotoxicity is directly related to the time of exposure, types, and quantum of solvent. Genotoxicity affects almost all the physiological systems, but the most vulnerable ones are the nervous system, reproductive system, and blood circulatory system. Based on the available literature report, we propose to evaluate the outcomes of such chemicals on the exposed humans at the workplace. Attempts would be made to ascertain if the long-term exposure makes a person resistant to such chemicals. This may seem to be a far-fetched idea but has not been studied. The health prospect of this study is envisaged to complement the already existing data facilitating a deeper understanding of the genotoxicity across the population. This would also demonstrate if it correlates with the demographic profile of the population and contributes to comorbidity and epidemiology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Deptt. of Life Sciences, SBSR, Sharda University, Greater Noida, UP, 201310, India

    Neha Verma, Soumya Pandit, Piyush Kumar Gupta, Sanjay Kumar & Kanu Priya

  2. Center of Medical Biotechnology, Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak Haryana, HR, 124001, India

    Anil Kumar

  3. Department of Biotechnology, Maharaja Agrasen University, Baddi, HP, India

    Shiv Kumar Giri & Gulab Yadav

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  1. Neha Verma
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  2. Soumya Pandit
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  3. Piyush Kumar Gupta
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  4. Sanjay Kumar
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  5. Anil Kumar
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NV is responsible for reading and writing of this review article, SP read and approved the manuscript, PG read and approved the manuscript, SK read and approved the manuscript, AK read and approved the manuscript, SG read and approved the manuscript, GY read and approved the manuscript, and KP analyzed this review article and is responsible for the edition of the content.

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Correspondence to Kanu Priya.

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Verma, N., Pandit, S., Gupta, P.K. et al. Occupational health hazards and wide spectrum of genetic damage by the organic solvent fumes at the workplace: A critical appraisal. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 30954–30966 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18889-6

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