Styrene-7,8-oxide (SO), the main intermediate metabolite of styrene, induces hyperkeratosis and tumors in the fore-stomach of rats and mice upon chronic administration by gavage. The aim of this study was to investigate whether DNA binding could be responsible for the carcinogenic effect observed. [7-3H]SO was administered by oral gavage in corn oil to male CD rats at two dose levels (1.65 or 240 mg/kg). After 4 or 24 h, forestomach, glandular stomach and liver were excised, DNA was isolated and its radioactivity determined. At the 4 h time point, the DNA radioactivity was below the limit of detection in the forestomach and the liver. Expressed in the units of the covalent binding index, CBI = (μmol adduct/mol DNA nucleotide)/(mmol chemical administered/kg body wt), the DNA-binding potency was below 2.6 and 2.0 respectively. In the glandular stomach at 4 h, and in most 24 h samples, DNA was slightly radiolabeled. Enzymatic degradation of the DNA and separation by HPLC of the normal nucleotides showed that the DNA radioactivity represented biosynthetic incorporation of radiolabel into newly synthesized DNA. The limit of detection of DNA adducts in the glandular stomach was 1.0. In a second experiment, [7-3H]SO was administered by i.p. injection to male B6C3F1 mice. Liver DNA was analyzed after 2 h. No radioactivity was detectable at a limit of detection of CBI < 0.6. In agreement with the relatively long half-life of SO in animals, the chemical reactivity of SO appears to be too low to result in a detectable production of DNA adducts in an in vivo situation. Upon comparison with the DNA-binding of other carcinogens, a purely genotoxic mechanism of tumorigenic action of SO is unlikely. The observed tumorigenic potency in the forestomach could be the result of strong tumor promotion by high-dose cytotoxicity followed by regenerative hyperplasia.