RESUMO
The latex of Christ's Crown (Euphorbia milii var. hislopii, syn. E. splendens var. hislopii) is a highly active plant molluscicide and could be used for snail control to reduce the prevalence of schistosomiasis in endemic areas. In the course of its toxicological evaluation, the mutagenicity of the latex of Euphorbia milii was tested in mammalian cells in vitro and in vivo. Latex was investigated for its capability of inducing gene mutations and chromosome aberrations in V79 cells in the absence and presence of S9-mix. Concentrations up to 800 micrograms/ml neither induced gene mutations at the HPRT locus nor chromosome aberrations. Latex had no effect on the frequencies of chromosome aberrations in the bone marrow of male and female rats at a dose of 1000 mg/kg. The results indicate that latex of E. milii is not mutagenic in mammalian cells in vitro and in vivo and its use as a molluscicide does not pose a mutagenic hazard for humans.