Contained in this volume are the proceedings of the international
conference on the "Genetic Toxicology of Complex Mixtures," held from
July 4-7, 1989, in Washington, DC. This meeting was a satellite of the
"Fifth International Conference on Environmental Mutagens" and the
seventh in a biennial series of conferences on "Short-term Bioassays in
the Analysis of Complex Environmental Mixtures. " Our central objective
in calling together key researchers from around the world was to extend
our knowledge of the application of the methods of genetic toxicology
and analytical chemistry in the evaluation of chemical mixtures as they
exist in the environment. This conference emphasized the study of
genotoxicants in air and water, and the assessment of human exposure and
cancer risk. The latest strategies and methodologies for biomonitoring
of genotoxicants (including transformation products) were described in
the context of the ambient environment. Source character- ization and
source apportionment were discussed as an aid to understand- ing the
origin and relative contribution of various kinds of complex mix- tures
to the ambient environment. Similarly, investigations of genotoxi- cants
found in the indoor environment (sidestream cigarette smoke) and in
drinking water (chlorohydroxyfuranones) were given special attention in
terms of their potential health impacts. New molecular techniques were
described to enable more precise quantitation of internal dose and dose-
to-target tissues. The emphasis of presentations on exposures/effects
assessment was on integrated quantitative evaluation of human exposure
and potential health effects.