Permanent inhalation of great variety of air pollutants raises serious problems concerning adverse effects on human health. Especially in airborne particulates more than 1000 inorganic and organic compounds have been detected, among them also carcinogens and mutagens, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polycyclic-aza-compounds, carbonic acids, phenols, ketons, heavy metals, etc. The role of airborne particulates in genesis of the most common cancer in man, the bronchogenic carcinoma, is still unresolved. Samples of airborne particulates were collected at locations of the highly industrialized Rhine-Ruhr region (Germany) employing a high volume sampler HVS-150 (Ströhlein Instruments) prepared with glass fibre filters. Samples were extracted in a Soxhlet-apparatus with dichloromethane. Using a rotating evaporator the solvent was evaporated and the residual substances dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide for cell culture experiments. Carcinogenic activity of extracts of airborne particulates was evaluated by the bioassay of 'enhancement' of malignant cell transformation in vitro. In this bioassay, exponentially growing cell cultures from kidneys of the Syrian golden hamster were treated with various concentrations of extracts of airborne particulates for 18 h. Thereafter, exposed and control cultures were infected with the papovavirus simian virus (SV-) 40 (Strain RH 911) at a multiplicity of infection (M.O.I.) of 300-500 ID50. A strong dose-dependent 'enhancement' of cell transformation frequency occurred in kidney cultures of the Syrian golden hamster pretreated with extracts of airborne particulates and thereafter infected with the simian virus 40. It has to be emphasized, that very low quantities of extractable substances corresponding to particulates collected from 0.5 m3 of air, induced a strong highly significant increase in cell transformation frequency. Inoculation of transformed cells into syngeneic animals produced in a high percentage malignant tumors, mostly sarcomas.