Tobacco Documents Online

.~- .. Cor~ W. Ayere (Dr.) cvA/ /4cn-5 llr. R.G. Nieholls, £.'IATIL Ltd., G.D.O. ~ox 14S, Sydney. N..5.~. 3CO1, Australia. 3Oth J.~nu~ry o 1,31. Dear Dick, Geof Feltou has asLed n,= to re~ly, to the 8octto.i :)~ 3nut L.~tt,,r to hi, e; denlinR with ,Dr and l)ioxtns. ~3 you e7 • ' -It an"r?, this i8 a difficult tonic, a.q it is more politic',l nzr! .~. .... tton.~l than scientific, ilowever, I slaall try to provtrl. ]~u -:it; scientifically correct answers, which has not th" case fo~ ~o-.t of the press covmle, ts, nnd you can decide, in t!, ". c.--~t,.~t )f thr local situ~tton, hey hP.~t to u.~e thin in~or:~,tJ,,.. An there are a nu:~bor of qu~_rio.~, I s'rtll list .: --p ;-:.:;. 11 To my ]-=owled.~., no-one lies ev~.r z~poFtc I or l~Jtlll'l dioxtns, (pol.vctllorinated diben=o-i)-di~;: ~u:~) ~'; pyrolysis rroducts of DDT. . There is a report, the Bmnb paper to nhi-.h you rc~;r, which claims that d~oxins are present i, ct.~arntt-- smoke. However, the highly toxic 2,3,7,:~ TC~)D wn-. not detected, only the less toxic hexa, ~,epta ~nd octa chlorine compounds, and the levels ,-lw,, for these compounds In cigarette smoke were ~h,, ]o-e.~, quoted in the Environmental list. 1~o no~.~- h.~a be-: carried out nt GB&DC on detecting, dtoxi,:. Jn .~-'o~., . . As yod know ~rom the yearly eurvey~ whtcs~ ~-~ carry" out--for you, Au8trali~ntobacco8 h~ve nlw:,y~ had exceedingly htKh DUT residue levels. Alehou~h there has been some reduction in DIYF levels over the last 2 years, levels are still well ,bove other crowing areu. e The press statement by Hr. John Lewis, sncr~tnry of the NQ Tobaceo OrowersCo-operative A-~ocintio,, Q /2.

-2- PT ~ frqh t ~. R.O. N£eholls, ~TIL LTD Cout'd. 30th January, 19R1. me ~e . 10. 11. 8aylns that the use of DOT mm stopped 5 yo:r~ 84o does not tally wltb mldueelevels found on AustrLli•n tobaccos over thin period. I would expect residue levels, 1088 than 5 pp,t., tt no DDT had boon used. When absorbed tu the soil, DDT is p0ro:ista,t, I.-It there I~ no ovid once to show that pl~nt.q tr.~e ,,n UUT fr~n the soil. DOT is u.~ed chieZly in the field, it ~..~ nnt .q fumiRant. Another orK•uochlortuo cor,~l,~, 15- t.~n^ orjUCil is used as • ~umi.~snt although -~.t ,m~ px~fer phoephLne. When sprayed nn1:n eroI~. I.~)T is le~q .-,~j-lJ.:tm, t th.~n when absorbed on ~oil, and i~ d0-.~,.,,,,:',.d , the ~..qs toxic DDE. 'lhi.~ metaboll..n-~ I-: .~e.c,:lez'.~.o-I by sun~;;'.ne/UV liF.ht. Tlze pro~.~ st,~trment that 3 ponulnr I,, ,, .: ..r Australian ci,:nrett~n h~d I!!Jf ro-.J I,,. I-. i.. bet~o~.n '!,} nn:l ,~.5 ~q i~ 111 ~qreo,,~.,I ..-It;,, th, results o! our survey £or you. This ~" !'~-" t:" the Australi.~n tobqcco u.~ed in your ~ ~- ...."'~' DDT would not he found on e,luiva|o:,t " .... ~ .... , brn~td~; ~o the pres.~ wore. correct. , ,,. .,o da~x about .qew ~e~laud tobaccos. .'e ...~t~ ,.',,,c! for you, if you so wish. There ls no medical evidence liuki,t~. '~UJ" v,! th the formation of c~rcinomere. DIYf Is not particularly toxic, lt.~ vrr.l t.,:ttr" ~ (to rats) is about 120 m;/k~ body wo~:,.ht, "/:'tot -'" other or~anochlorine pesticides, dte)'irin ""z~ endrtn have values •bout 3 ~/kq. 3' ~.~? L ", toxic COml~unds should be b~nned. I ~.h,v'- tb" to man, to be true. DDT had the ~tefortuns to be the ftr, t ~ood synthetic pesticide. It boeams popular and w,~ used £ndlecrimlnantly ud ex~esstvel}, -,:~.~tn; the usual outcry by the environmental l~t0~y. The ban on DDT was entlr~ly emotlonal nxa,I l,~Gt.l on the supposed 111 elfect on birds r'ho n~n crops sprayed with DDT. Although there is 0 Cr~ Cr~ 0 / 3.

-3- B" ]dr. R.O. N:lLobolls, AllATII, L'II) Cont ' d M)th January, 1981. plenty o! evibnoe tJ~out the ha to bLtd8 otust~ by d£eld~ln ~sd oudl~n, 4t i8 doubtful if DDT oausod a 8inslo doath. 12. Zf DDT "is used col"ro~Zy, £.e.p aooord/n£ to Kood aSTieultu~aX i~s~tico, z~eidue XeveX8 would be unlikely to sxeood 10 ppm. &11 the barn hu resulted from bad f~ng practices. I do hope those c~unmcntq wt11 help you deal with the prob]n~s now developtn~ In Austr~ta. Please lot mo know If I c~n ~e of any further help. Best wlshes, Dr. L.C.F. ~Jl~.r.l,J~.~n Dr. D.G. Felton Q cr~ %D ~o