Nitrosamine as environmental carcinogens

Letterman RD (ed) (1999) Water quality and treatment A handbook of community water supplies, 5th ed., Amer. Water Works Assoc., McGraw-Hill, New York Lijinsky W, Epstein SS (1970) Nitrosamines as environmental carcinogens. Nature 225 21-23 Lin S, Marshall EG, Davidson GK (1994) Potential parental exposure to pesticides and hmb reduction defects. Scand J Work Environ Health 20 166-179 Linak, E, Lutz, HJ, Nakamura E (1990) Chlorinated Solvents. In Linak E, Lutz HJ, Nakamura E, C2 chlorinated solvents, chemical economics handbook, Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, CA, pp. 632.30000a-632.3001z Lindsay WL (1979) Chemical equilibria in soils. John Wiley, New York... 

Lijinsky, W. and Epstein S.S. (1970) Nitrosamines as environmental carcinogens. Nature (London) 225, 21-23. 

Serfontein, W.J. and P. Hurter Nitrosamines as environmental carcinogens. II. Occurrence of nitrosamines... 

Cancer Cong., Tokyo, Japan (1966) Nitrosamines as environmental carcinogens. A review of the chemical and biological aspects S. African Cancer Bull. 10... 

Lijinsky, W. Epstein, S.S. Nitrosamines as Environmental Carcinogens. Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer, University of Nebraska College of Medicine, www.nature.com/ nature/joumaFv225/n5227/abs/225021a0.html... 

The NO + 03 chemiluminescent reaction [Reactions (1-3)] is utilized in two commercially available GC detectors, the TEA detector, manufactured by Thermal Electric Corporation (Saddle Brook, NJ), and two nitrogen-selective detectors, manufactured by Thermal Electric Corporation and Antek Instruments, respectively. The TEA detector provides a highly sensitive and selective means of analyzing samples for A-nitrosamines, many of which are known carcinogens. These compounds can be found in such diverse matrices as foods, cosmetics, tobacco products, and environmental samples of soil and water. The TEA detector can also be used to quantify nitroaromatics. This class of compounds includes many explosives and various reactive intermediates used in the chemical industry [121]. Several nitroaromatics are known carcinogens, and are found as environmental contaminants. They have been repeatedly identified in organic aerosol particles, formed from the reaction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with atmospheric nitric acid at the particle surface [122-124], The TEA detector is extremely selective, which aids analyses in complex matrices, but also severely limits the number of potential applications for the detector [125-127],... 

The polychlorinated biphenyls occur widely as environmental pollutants and have been observed in the food chain. GC-MS has been applied in various aspects of their analysis (for leading references see [504, 505,513]). In the general area of food chemistry and contamination control, claims for the presence of carcinogenic nitrosamines in foodstuffs have been evaluated by specific GC-MS techniques [514,515]. However, it has been suggested that there may be a current over obsessive interest in the possible hazards of a few ppb of nitrosoamines in food [516]. 

Carcinogenicity of NDELA. Our special interest in NDELA as a constituent of tobacco products and as an environmental agent relates to the observation that this nitrosamine induces carcinoma of the liver as well as of the kidney in rats (21,22) and carcinoma of the nasal cavity and papillomas of the trachea in hamsters (23). Recently, Lijinsky reported that NDELA admini-... 

Nitrosamines are toxic compounds as well as potent animal and human carcinogens (Patnaik, 1992). These substances occur in trace quantities in tobacco smoke, meat products, and salted fish. Some of these compounds are classified by U.S. EPA as priority pollutants in industrial wastewaters, potable waters, and hazardous wastes. These nitrosamines are listed in Table 2.16.1. Such pollutants occurring in environmental samples can be determined by U.S. EPA s analytical procedures (U.S. EPA 1990, 1992). 

Several nitrosamines are known to act as mutagens or carcinogens in laboratory animals therefore, there has been a considerable effort to identify environmental sources of nitrosamines. Nitrosamines may be formed by the action of nitrous acid on secondary amines. Thus, there are a wide variety of potential substrates, because nitrous acid, as nitrite, and secondary amines, are almost ubiquitous. The presence of nitrosamines in pesticide formulations usually results from the byproducts of a nitrosation step or a reaction between amine salts of certain pesticides and nitrite used as a corrosion inhibitor in the formulated product. 

Amines are not only toxic themselves, but can change in toxic V-nitrosamines, potentially carcinogenic substances giving a wide variety of tumors in many animals, or form adducts with proteins and DNA." Most analyzed amines are allergens. Many others, including heterocyclic amines, have been proved to be mutagenic and carcinogenic. Many of these compounds have been isolated and identified not only from various proteinaceous foods, such as cooked meats and fish, but also from environmental components, such as outdoor air, indoor air, diesel-exhaust particles,... 

Nitrates and nitrites are spread within environmental, food, industrial, and physiological systems. Nitrate may be reduced by bacteria to nitrite, and nitrite produces carcinogenic nitrosamines. Nitrite is also commonly employed in cured meat products to provide antimicrobial action, color fixation, and preservation. Nitrite can oxidize hemoglobin iron(II) to iron(III) resulting in methemoglobin, leading to a condition known as methemoglobinemia in children mainly. In excess, nitrates and nitrites may be toxic. 

---