Tobacco Documents Online

K a V 0 5 1993 , ~~ Cr i fi~f (7°P ~ . R << t t R ~ November 3,1993 Dr. James T. Willerson Editor, Circulation St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital 6720 Bertner Avenue, Room B524 (MCI-267) Houston, TX 77030-2697 Dear Dr. Willerson, Inhalation of sidestream smoke accelerates development of arteriosclerotic plaques (Penn & Snyder, Circulation & 1820-5). Please find enclosed a Letter to the Editor, referring to the abor e article which appeared recently in Circulation. You will note that a large part of my critique concerns the author's use of the word "moderate" to describe the smoke concentration used. I point out in my Letter that in fact the concentrations used were over 300 times those seen in ireas where smoking is permitted. Dr. Penn made a platform presentation of his finding.; at a meeting earlier this year (Society of Toxicology, March 1993, New Orleans) and this major discrepancy was pointed out by my colleague Dr. Doolittle after Dr. Penn made his presentation.. Dr. Penn agreed with the criticism (and with the exaggeration factor mentimed above), so it is very surprising that these facts are not mentioned in the Circulatior: article. Data on ETS concentrations in the field were available to Dr. Penn in the forrn of my reference #5 (the definitive work on ETS chemistry, published before his arnicle was submitted for publication). The authors surely had adequate time to make n:odifications to their text after the SOT discussion, since their article was not finally accepted by Circulation until May 1993. I consider this omission to be a blatant disregard for the peer-review process, a disservice to Science in general and to readers of Circulation in particular.