[Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon content of waste products of the coal-tar industry and the mutagenic effect of soot extracts].

The content of 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in organized and nonorganized effluents of cake- and by-product processes at the Rustavi integrated iron-and-steel works was quantitatively determined by the method of low-temperature spectrofluorescence. Contents of BP and other PAH in nonorganized effluents is 100 and more times higher than those in the organized one and play a decisive role in pollution of the low atmospheric layer. The effluent is characterized by a specific PAH composition and therefore BP may be both a quantitative and a qualitative indicator of PAH. The mutagenic effect was studied by the Ames method with S. typhimurium TA 100 as a test strain. The extracts from soot of nonorganized cake-batlery effluent were studied. Simultaneously the effects of BP, of all PAH in the total and of carcinogenic PAH in concentrations corresponding to the discharge composition were studied. It is shown that BP may be used as an indicator of PAH composition and mutagenic effect.