Estimation of cytogenetic risk among coke oven workers exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) result from the incomplete combustion of natural or synthetic organic materials. The working environment at a coke plant can negatively affect the employed workers who were exposed to coke oven emissions containing PAHs, which formed and released into the environment by the process of pyrolysis of coke. This study aims to analyze the relationship between the exposure of PAHs and the risk of genetic damages such as chromosomal alteration (CA), micronucleus (MN), and DNA damage (PCR-RFLP) in peripheral blood lymphocytes of 27 coke oven workers and equal number of control subjects.