Mutagenicity of smoke condensate of bidi--an indigenous cigarette of India.

The possible mutagenicity of bidi smoke condensate (BSC), an indigenous form of an Indian cigarette has been studied using three short-term test systems. It was seen that BSC caused frame-shift mutations in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA 98 and TA 1538 and required metabolic activation. In the mammalian test systems, BSC induced 8 azaguanine resistant mutations in V79 Chinese hamster cells in the presence of S9 mixture and induced elevated frequencies of micronucleated erythrocytes in the bone marrow of Swiss mice.