Development of bacterial mutagenicity tests: A view from afar

A brief (and subjective) history of the progressive development of bacterial mutagenicity assays with Salmonella typhimurium and Eschericia coli is presented, with emphasis on the need to view such assays as being capable of detecting genetically active substances rather than being dedicated to the detection of carcinogenic chemicals. The role of mutation‐enhancing plasmids in the improvement of Salmonella tester strains and the need for batteries of tests to allow the detection of genetic endpoints that cannot be detected with bacteria (e.g., aneuploidy) are also discussed.