RESEARCH ARTICLE Occupational and life-style factors-acquired mutagenicity in agric-workers of northeastern Brazil Tatiana Vieira Souza Chaves 1 & Muhammad Torequl Islam 2,3 & Manoel Odoríco de Moraes 1 & Marcus Vinícius Oliveira Barros de Alencar 2 & Débora Cássia Vieira Gomes 2 & Rodrigo Mendes de Carvalho 2 & Sharbel Weider Maluf 4 & Fabrício Pires de Moura do Amaral 1 & Márcia Fernanda Correia Jardim Paz 5 & Gilberto Santos Cerqueira 2 & Hercília Maria Lins Rolim 6 & João Marcelo de Castro e Sousa 6,7 & Ana Amélia de Carvalho Melo-Cavalcante 2,6 & Maria Elisabete Amaral de Moraes 8 Received: 20 July 2016 /Accepted: 28 April 2017 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017 Abstract Pesticides are a complex mixture of chemicals used to protect crops from a number of pests and diseases. They have been considered as potential mutagenic agents. This study aims at evaluation of the mutagenic effect of pesticide exposure to agricultural workers through chromosomal aber- rations (CA) and micronucleus (MN) assay in peripheral blood lymphocytes and oral mucosal cells, respectively. The exposed group was consisted with 97 farmers, while the con- trol (un-exposed) group consisted of 55. The results showed a significant (p < 0.05) increase in frequency of CA and MN in the exposed group. Both CA and MN profiles were linked to a significant (p < 0.05) co-relation with the confounding factors such as smoking habits, alcohol, vegetables, tea/coffee, vita- mins, and sweetener consumptions. More cytogenetic events were denoted in smoking and alcohol consumption as well as non-personal protective equipment (non-PPE) and low/no vegetables user farmers. In conclusion, a deficiency of dietary and medicaments-derived antioxidants, while consumption of alcohol and tobacco, as well as effects of radiation, heavy metal poisoning (especially from sweeteners), and non-PPE using habits, may contribute cytogenetic damage to the workers. Keywords Chromosomal aberrations . Confounding factors . Cytogenetic . Farmers . Micronuclei . Pesticides Introduction Exposure to genotoxic agents in our environment can cause a variety of effects on human health (Gaikwad et al. 2015). Experimental data show that, the several agrochemical sub- stances possess mutagenic properties inducing mutations, chromosomal aberrations (CA), or relevant other changes in DNA (Kausar et al. 2014). They have been considered as mutagenic potentials (Benedetti et al. 2013). In biomonitoring studies, genetic damage associated with pesticides has been detected in higher exposure levels, intensive or because of misuse or lack of control measures (Bolognesi et al. 2002). Pesticides are a complex mixture of chemicals used to control pests such as insects that attack crops and act as vectors for diseases, and are therefore widely used in agriculture and pub- lic health campaigns (Casida 2009). Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues * Muhammad Torequl Islam rbiotufpi.br@gmail.com 1 Department of Health, Board of Health Surveillance of Piauí, Teresina, Brazil 2 Postgraduate Program in Biotechnology, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Piauí 64.049-550, Brazil 3 Department of Pharmacy, Southern University Bangladesh, Mehedigbag, Chittagong 4000, Bangladesh 4 Medical Genetics Service, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil 5 Postgraduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology Applied to Health, Lutheran University of Brazil, Canoas, Brazil 6 Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Piauí 64.049-550, Brazil 7 Department of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Piauí, Picos, PI 64.600-000, Brazil 8 Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil Environ Sci Pollut Res DOI 10.1007/s11356-017-9150-y