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NOV 0 5 1G93 .e ~ ~NS ~r 9~ 0~ a s cOP~ ~ ~ RRl~ s a~ St cA Ae fi ~ L ~ C N 14 • 4 ~ ~ I L"- 1-,..,A. 1 F 0 November 3, ] 993 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 S& 1820-5). Please find enclosed a Letter to the Editor, referring to the above 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 3reas where smoking is permitted. Dr. Penn made a platform presentation of his findings at a meeting earlier this year (Society of Toxicology, March 1993, New Orleans) and thi s 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 mentioned above), so it is very surprising that these facts are not mentioned in the Circulation 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 article was submitted for publication). The authors surely had adequate time to make modifications 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.

There has been no duplicate publication or submission elsewheie of this Letter, I am the sole author and, other than my employment by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, there are no financial or other relations that could lead to a conflict of i nterest. The Leaer contains 461 words and 7 references. Sincerely, Chris R.E. Coggins, Ph.D. Research & Development R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Winston-Salem, North Carolina cc. Dr. D.J. Doolittle 2