Overview of the Final Panel Session

Abstract

To encourage research in the field of environmental mutagenesis and to discuss speciElc regional problems, various conferences have recently been organized. The first one was held in Costa Rica in 1988, and its follow-up was held in Caxambu, Brazil, in May 1991. The Southeast Asian workshop was held in 1989 in Thailand, and a meeting was held in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1989. It was, in fact, in Guadalajara and at the preceding meeting on genetic biomonitoring in Galveston, Texas, that the first plans for the Cairo meeting were conceived. The following papers represent the collective wisdom of the participants at the flnal panel session of the Cairo meeting. After stating the needs for coordination of scientiElC activities, emphasis is given to prioritizing hazards. Valuable recommendations are listed under Chemical Prioritizing and Human Surveillance Studies. I would, however, like to emphasize the relevance of genetic biomonitoring studies. They provide us with the Elrst indication of mutagenic effectiveness of a particular exposure in human somatic cells. What should be done next touches on issues such as ethical needs of follow-up studies. If we would follow-up cancer incidence or other diseases in individuals with chromosome aberrations, cytogenetic biomonitoring studies may gain in predictive value. The large collaborative Nordic study that keeps track of health and chromosome records of the responding individuals may serve as an example in this respect.