Benzene is a widespread human carcinogen, inducing leukemia and hematotoxicity. Exposure to benzene metabolites has been shown to cause genetic damage, including aneusomy and chromosome aberrations. Fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH) procedure was used to determine if the benzene metabolite, 1, 2, 4-benzenetriol(BT), hydroquinone(HQ) and trans, trans-muconic acid(t,t-MA) induced specific chromosomal change in HL-60 cells. Treatment with BT, HQ and t,t-MA resulted in the induction of monosomy 8 and 21 in HL-60 cells in a dose-dependent manner. All of these metabolites also induced trisomy 8 and 21, but no correlation between frequencies of trisomy and concentration was found. Translocations between chromosome 8 and another unidentified chromosome ［t(8:ulcorner)］, and between chromosome 21 and another unidentified chromosome ［t(8:21)］ were found. However, translocation between chromosome 8 and 21 ［t(8:21)］ was not found. Results indicate that the benzene metabolites, BT, HQ and t,t-MA, induce chromosome specific numerical and structural aberrations, and the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) approach may be a useful and powerful technique for detection of aneuploidy.