Tobacco Documents Online

:+A paper read by Dr. F. William Sunderman of Philadelphia at a meeting of the • American Association of Clinical Pathologists in Chicago (September 27) claimed e e a a a s o e eme ceemen ce n acco ;,~. a n smoke. He linked this with experimemts in Which certain nickel compounds were alleged to have caused cancer in rats. A coa4nentary on the Sunderman report wa.s 'issued by a TIRC spokesman. THE WASHINGTON POST 'Washington, D.C. ,September 28, 1960 Role in Lung Cancer Hinted What This Country' Needs Is Getting Noxious Nickel Out of Good Smokes By Nate Haseltine - Staff ReDorter What this country may need more than a good five cent cigar is research to take the nickel, out of tobacco smoke. Such a suggestion was made last night by Dr. F. William Sunderman, of Philadelphia, to a scientific session of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists In Chicago. Dr. Sunderman said recefit studies have shown that heavy smokers inhale nickel in ac- daily would 'inhale in one ~ sions and National Insurance year some 5400 micrograms of in Great Britain designated the metal. Other research, he lung cancer •in nickel workers aid, shows that rats develop as an industrial disease. ung cancer in one year from Nickel has a great affinity ccumulating doses of nickel for carbon monoxide, with otaling 1930 micrograms. which it unites to form nickel The role of nickel dust, or carbonyl. And carbon monoxide nickel carbonyl, as a carcinogen is formed in the burning of (cancer causer) has been re- tobaceo. Dr. Sunderman said. cognized for some time now. The Sundermans measured Its p r e s e n e e in cigarette nickel content~ in the smoke of smoke- however, in sufficient six different brands of ciga- amounts to implicate it with rettes, and found some con• lung cancer had not heret'o- i tained twice as much as cumulated amounts that have Ifore been, determined. others. Filter tips, he reported, been shown to cause lung can-~ Trace amounts of nickel!have screened' out but little of the .er in test rats. He reported been known, to exist in tobacco, suspect ifigredient tudies he and his namesa'sel as in many other plants. It is ~, "In view of the findings," Dr. :on conducted to measure the l, a ubiquitous element present' Sunderman concluded, "it is !imounts of nickel released in aigarette smoke. From their results, he esti- mated that an individuali smok-j observed among nickeli workers. smoke. The problem is not Ing two packs of -cigarettes,J,In 1949, the Ministry of• Pen-linsuperable." CHICAGO SUN-'IriMES' Chicago, Illinois September 28, 1960 in alI soiis. our considered opinion that As far back as 1937; a hieh, efforts . should be made to re- incidence of lung cancer was 'move• nickel from cigarette Nickel Seen As Tobac~o fessor of medicine at Jefferson Medical College and his son is a research associate there. The role of nickel dust as a cancer-causing agent has been recognized for some time, but• its presence in cigaret smoke in sufficient amounts to implicate it as a lung cancer factor had not'been heretofore determined. The doctors presented results of their studies before the Amer- ican Society of Clinical Pathol-ogists and the College of Amer- ican Pathologists in convention at the Palmer House. They said a person smoking two packs a day for a period of a year would inhale an amount of nickel totaling 5,400 micro- grams. . - It took only 1,930 micro- grams of nickel carbonyl over a year's period to cause lung cancer in rats, an animali no- tably resistant to this form of the disease. a Cancer Clue ~. Two Philadelphir research N) men said Tuesday that a two- 1X\ pack-a-day cigaret smoker in- ~ bales almost three times the l amount of nickel that will cause Y~ lung cancer in rats. ~ Nickeli gets into tobacco as a ~ result of trace -amounts of the ~ metal' in the soil. ~ Dr. F. William Sunderman and his son, Dr. William Jr., told of their studies which en- abled them to measure the amount of nickel carbonyl re- leased in cigaret smoke. The elder Sunderman is clin:cal pro- THE ' WASHINGTON POST Washington, D.C. " '4:,, .September 30, 1960 Cancer Link A spokesman for the To- bacco Industry Research Com- mittee yesterday challenged the findings of a Philadelphia pathologist on the existence of cancer-causing nickel in cigar- ette smoke. > :,,' Robert C. Hockett, the com- mittee's associate scientific di- rector, issued the following statement: "The most authoritative re- cent studies that we know of show no,trace of nickel found in tobacco smoke. It should be made clear that' the Stinder- mans have not, and do not claim to have, induced lung cancer in their rats with to- bacco smoke." He said there is no evidence for conclusions that nickel in tobacco has anything to do -with human lung disease- He was referring to the sci- entific report earlier this week by Dr. F. William Sunderman. clinical pathologist, and his son. They said they found al- most three times as much nickel in cigarette smoke as is needed to induce lung can- cer in test rats. Hockett, a chemist, said he was unfamiliar with the Sun- dermans' latest research.