Lack of mutagenicity of polycyclic musk fragrances in Salmonella typhimurium

Synthetic musks are widely used as fragrances and therefore found in various environmental samples. Residues were identified in river and waste water, animal and human tissues and breast milk. In the present study, six artificial polycyclic musk fragrances-Galaxolide, Tonalide, Celestolide, Phantolide, Cashmeran and Traseolide-were tested for mutagenicity using the Salmonella/mammalian-microsome assay with Salmonella typhimurium strains TA97, TA98, TA100 and TA102 in the presence (+ S-9) and absence (-S-9) of an exogenous metabolizing system. All compounds rested exhibited no mutagenicity in the Salmonella assay. These results could be rated as one indicator of the biological inactivity of this group of chemicals with respect to genotoxicity. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.