Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer has been extensively used in the traditional oriental medicine as a restorative, tonic and prophylatic agent. This study was devised to develop a chemopreventive agent from panax ginseng to be able to suppress the genotoxicity and oxidative damage by ractive oxygen species, which are involved with cancer or aging. Ginseng petroleum ether extract (GPE) and one of its fraction, P2, showed an antioxidative effect on the lipid peroxidiphenyl-2-picryl hydrazil (DppH) radical generation. They also showed the suppressive effect of H2O2 or KO2 induced DNA damage by single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE). Results from our study indicate that GPE and P2 are capable of protecting lipid peroxidation, and oxidative DNA damage. Therefore, GPE and P2 may be useful chempreventive agents which are involved with cancer and aging.