Bethizy, J. Donald
Blixt, Charles A., - Assistant General Counsel for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, c. 1994; Burger, Gary Thomas - Vice President of Product Development for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1994.; Caldwell, Bill-involved with Sidestream and ETS Nitrosamine Analyses for RJR; Coggins, Christopher-Toxicologist for RJR; Bethizy, J. Donald -Head of Product Evaluation for RJR Circa 1994.; Green, Charles R. PhD - RJR Chemical Division 1969, Principal Scientist 1989, Senior Principal Scientist R&D 1997, worked on BESSE project (Biological Effects of Sidestream Smoke Exposure).; Lippiello, Patrick - Scientist, RJR; Mosberg, Amie; Rees, Cooper; Robinson, John - Research scientist and psychologist for RJR, c. 1994; Suber, Robert - Spokesperson for RJR; Ward, Mary - Associate General Counsel for RJR
This 1994 trip report by R.J. Reynolds chemist David J. Doolittle relates information on a multi-company operation called BESSE (Biological Effects of Sidestream Smoke Exposure), a project carried out conjointly by Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, British American Tobacco, the Verband (German cigarette industry), Austrian Tobacco and Swedish Tobacco. The goal of BESSE was "to strengthen our efforts to initiate and support science on biological effects of sidestream smoke exposure; to cooperate among the companies participating in the group; to switch from a reactive to a proactive approach in dealing with these [sidestream smoke] matters." (http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2023049185-9187.html)
The report says that one meeting participant (Dr. Franz Adlkofer) discusses a "wonderful, state-of-the-art" 90-day study on rats which revealed that secondhand smoke exposure caused "increased chromosome aberrations." The writer points out that this study, however, was never published in a peer-reviewed journal and was "unknown in the scientific world." According to Doolittle, Dr. Adlkofer then "told us that he wanted to do a 2-year study in rats, but the industry would not support the study because they were afraid of the results."
Doolittle talks about a proposed study "involving exposure of non-smokers to real life ETS in a bar for four hours." Doolittle says such a study would "not only be unhelpful, but would...leave the door open for prohibitionists to interpret it in a malicious manner...Therefore, I feel strongly that this study should not be done."
Doolittle mentions that it would be "ideal...to develop a data set which shows...the biological activity of NNK [a carcinogen in secondhand smoke] is inhibited by nicotine and cotinine...[and] the level of nitrosamines received by an individual following ETS exposure is insignificant compared to nitrosamine exposures from other sources, such as food."
Doolittle also relates a discussion about the "major problem" of international regulatory agencies considering ventilation standards that would require separate ventilation for smoking areas. He says:
"These draft regulations suggest that smoking not be banned, but areas that do have smoking would require separate ventilation. Thus, building owners would then have to decide whether or not they would provide separate ventilation for their smoking areas. Higher ventilation always results in more cost, both capital and operating. The problem is that owners of most establishments may decide to ban smoking, rather than pay a monetary penalty for enhanced ventilation equipment. Therefore, smoking would be a legal indoor activity, but no indoor locations could be found that meet the ventilation standards necessary to allow smokers to smoke. This is a very clever backdoor move by the prohibitionists, which must be aggressively countered with sound engineering, chemical and biological data."