Health Effects of Environmental Pollutants on Workers in the Libyan Plastic Factories, Part B: Based on Molecular Levels Characteristics

Abstract

This study aimed to disclose the reasons for the health damage and heritable genetic mutations among workers in plastic manufactories due to negative environmental impacts. Moreover, this study may constitute an initial database that expresses the negative impact on the environment in the plastics factories that may have a negative impact on workers. To study the effects of long-term exposure to plastic and its solvent vapors during plastic manifesting on the blood DNA contents, blood samples were withdrawn from volunteers working in a plastics factory in Kasr Alakhyar city, Libya. Six different samples were collected from Workers exposed to plastic vapor for different periods as follows, control (did not expose to plastic vapor), one-year exposure, three years' exposure, six years' exposure, seven years' exposure, and twelve years' exposure.

Blood samples were collected and subjected to molecular analysis using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR). Molecular analyses were performed to assess the genotoxicity effect of plastic vapor on the molecular level. On the molecular level, the DNA of the six aforementioned volunteers was extracted and subjected to RAPD analysis. The results showed several differences in the banding patterns was recorded between the control volunteer and volunteer and those who exposed to plastic and its solvents vapor for different exposure periods. These changes in the banding patterns suggested that a modification in the genomic DNA occurred in form of modifications in the nitrogen bases of the genomic DNA as a response to the exposure to plastic vapor for a different time exposure.