EN
Among the contaminants of water, soil and air the number of mutagenic and carcinogenic substances is increasing. For the assessment of health risk connected with the simple and cheap methods are necessary which could detected and measure the mutagenicity of these substances. The widely used tests using prokaryotes give negative results in the tests of certain substances which are carcinogenic in mammals. In the case of benzene and acetaldehyde Ames test gives false negative results, and in the case of formaldehyde the results are equivocal. An advantage oŕ fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster used for this purpose is that its cell structures, enzymes and metabolic processes are similar to those of mammals. For the demonstration of mutagenicity of benzene, acetaldehyde and formaldehyde the test of somatic mutation and recombination SMART was carried out in these flies. The results confirmed the usefulness of the SMART test for the demonstration of the mutagenicity of contaminants in the environment.