[Urban air pollution by carcinogenic N-nitrosamines].

Moscow is used as an example to discuss the problem of urban atmospheric pollution by carcinogenic N-nitrosamines. An analytical method is proposed, which is based on the use of a Russian gas chromatograph compatible with a chemiluminescence detector, that is a TEA thermal energy analyzer (USA) having some modifications to reduce the time of analysis and loss during sample pretreatment. The minimal detected concentration is 3 ng/m3 for 2-hour sampling.

[The mutagenic activity of coal tar].

Genotoxicity of tar samples collected at the Kemerovo and Altai by-product coke plants has been studied, the contribution of benz(a)pyrene (BP) into the total mutagenic activity of extracts being estimated. Both direct and indirect mutagenicity of the samples is determined in the Ames test. A direct mutagenic effect of coal tar may be attributed neither to the BP action nor to other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.