Mutagenicity of pesticides containing 1,3-dichloropropene

In a systematic study of the mutagenic effect of chemical compounds used as pesticides, we found that D. D. soil fumigant and Telone are mutagenic. The test was performed using the bacterial tester strains following the procedure developed by Ames. The active principle of D. D. soil fumigant and Telone is a mixture of the cis and trans isomers of 1,3-dichloropropene. Both isomers are mutagenic in Salmonella strains TA 1535 and TA 100. 2,3-Dichloro-1-propene, a minor component (5%) of the commercial preparation Telone, was also found to be mutagenic in strains TA 1535 and TA 100. Mutagenesis of these tester strains is an indication of a base-pair substitution event causing a missense mutation. 1,3-Dichloropropene is widely used in agriculture all over the world. In Italy 2,187,100 kg were produced in 1972. In California over 1,000,000 kg of 1,3-dichloropropene-containing pesticides were used in 1971.