Water extracts of persimmon leaf tea(PLTE), green tea(GTE) and oolong tea(OTE), at the con centration used for human consumption, were examined for inhibitory effects on the mutagenicity of major classes of dietary and environmental mutagens including indirect acting mutagens, B[ ]P (benzo[ ]pyrene), IQ(2 amino 3 methylimidazo[4,5 f]quinoline), 2 AA(2 aminoanthracene) in the presence of S9 mix and direct acting mutagen, 4 NQO(4 nitroquinoline 1 oxide) without S9 mix, using the modified Ames Salmonella/microsome assay. PLTE, GTE and OTE showed very potent and concentration dependent antimutagenic effects against indirect acting mutagens B[ ]P and IQ. At the maximum concentration(16,200 g/plate) of each tea extract, number of colonies decreased in a dose dependent manner up to 82~100%. Similar inhibition of PLTE, GTE and OTE were seen at higher concentration in the mutagenicity of the 2 AA following an initial increase in the activity at lower concentration. However, the mutagenicity of the direct acting mutagen 4 NQO were not suppressed at lower concentration of the three tea extracts, and higher concentration of the tea extracts enhanced mutagenic activity of the mutagen. There were no differences in the mode of antimutagenesis between PLTE, GTE, and OTE, in both Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 strains against the same mutagen. In conclusion, the water extracts of persimmon leaf tea, green tea and oolong tea possess marked antimutagenic potential against a variety of important dietary and environmental indirect acting mutagens, but the activity was not observed against the direct acting mutagens. These results suggest that the mode of inhibitory action may not have resulted from direct interaction between tea extracts and the mutagens, but rather from indirect metabolic inactivation of mutagens by tea extracts.