Mutagenicity of 19 major graphic arts and printing dyes

Abstract

Thousands of dyes and pigments are currently in use in the graphic arts and printing industry. Only a handful of these chromophores have been tested for carcinogenicity or mutagenicity, although many of them are members of chemical classes of compounds that include individual chemicals demonstrably carcinogenic in humans or in laboratory animals. A number of epidemiologic studies have demonstrated excess cancer in graphic arts personnel. The etiological agents have not been identified.

This study involved 19 dyes, selected from a list of 34 colorants considered to be representative of those that are most extensively used in the trade and for which no carcinogenic data exist. They were tested for their ability to create revertants in the Ames Salmonella typhimurium/mammalian microsome reversion test system. Two variations of the standard Ames test were also used: the colorants were mixed with the warm top agar before spreading on the minimal plates, and the colorants were added to the liver homogenate, generating solution, and bacteria and shaken at 37°C for 30 min before plating. All colorants were first dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide and all were tested in the presence and absence of liver microsomes.

Two colorants, para red [color index (CI) number 12070] and dinitroaniline orange (CI 12075), were found to be weakly mutagenic. Para red requires the presence of the liver homogenate to produce mutagenicity; dinitroaniline orange is a direct mutagen. Both colorants revert only the frameshift strains that were tested (TA1538 and TA98).