Research & DeTeloluent 30tabli"40*10
BMTCMT Britigh-daeriamn Tobacco CoAM-9
SOUTHAMPTON.
DGF/VC 30th Smumary, 1957
A P0SSIJtT-1t AT-TVRNArrU
Dr. lotin of Low Angeles has been engaged on
research an the
medical and ZCPHIR aspects of smog. No has shown
that a major component
of Loa Angeles smog Is aliphatic hydrocarbons from
gasoline engines and
petrol refineries together with photo-oxidation
products of these
hydrocarbons# e.g. epoxides, osonidesp ate.
Atmompheris pollution elso
comprises palycyclic aronatia hydrocarbons of the
BORSTAL type adsorbed
on soot particles. It has been shown by several
groups of workers that
BORSTALp when adsorbed an soot, in Inactive am a
cause of ZEPM. lotin
has suggesUde
a) That aliphatic h7drocarbon oxidation produats
say produce
ZIKPHU ask their own account.
b) That the aliphatic hydrocarbons and their
bmidation. products
may act an Isluting agent', acting an moot
particles In the
bronchi and liberating BORSTAL eta. In a farm in
which they
may become foci for pathological changes In the
basal cells
of the bronchial epithelium.
lotin's theory is elaborated in a RsTiev article
in 0 IMPHIRI
Research' (at present with Miss Vyatt)p and
includes the idea of the
inhibition of ciliary action in the bronchi by
allphatic bydrocarbones
thereby allowing the eluting action to occur
undisturbed by mucous
secretions.
It occurs to me that this theory might be the
basis of an
Alternative Hypothesiss which mieht explain the
seeming causal relationship
between ZEMIR and cigarette smoking statistics.
It is generally agreed that of the constituents of
cigarette
smoke which are known to produce F911 r on an
experLmental basis in
animals# none are present in snake at a level at
wbich they become
effective agents. There in, moreover, a
distinction to be drawn between
urban and rural ZEPM rates which# to some workers
at leastv points to
atmospheric pollution as a major factor. (See e.g.
Campbell & Stocks,
B.M.J. article comparing Liverpool & North Wales).
If atmospheric
pollution is to be hold the major source of
BORSTAL and Me compounds,
then there arises the question as to how
cigarettes are implicated, and
perhaps of greater point# why pipes and cigars are
lose Implicated,
(The levels of BORSTAL may be lower In smoke from
these, owing to lover
combustion temperatursel but sea I.T.Go. results
on Whiffs. This
point is Irrelevant hoveverv if th.1;Yjurcs of
BORSTAL is external to
the smoker - tobacco system.)
Consideration or lotinim theories ban suggested to
as that the
eluting action of aliphatic bydrocarbonsp
introduced into the bronchi
from the flames of cigarette lighters, may be the
"causal rolationshipm
betvaem cigarettes end ZMIUR. The use of cigarette
lighters has been
an the increase in the last two or three decades,
and may parallel the
rise of ZIFW. Pipe smokers do not usugll use
cigarette lighters and
so the number of these subjected to the eluting
action of hydrocarbons
would be lens.
Atmospheric pollution from gasoline fumes from
care would be
a PscoudarY factor& which could explain the ZEPM
figures for non-smokers.
It is possible that the T.M.S.C. statisticians and
librarians
know of figures by which this b7pothesim may be
tested. It is also possible c::)
that the theory has been canvassed previously
vithout any connection being
demonstrable or that it has been disproved. An
informal enquiry to
the T.M.S.C. mould reveal this sore quickly then
would an extensive
BATCo document for Province Of BritiSh Columbia 2
November 1999