© 2000 by Oxford University Press
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 92, No. 8, 660,
April 19, 2000
© 2000 Oxford University Press
CORRESPONDENCE |
More About: Safe Cigarette Alternatives? Industry Critics Say ‘Not Yet’
Affiliation of authors: Roswell Park Cancer Institute (New York State Department of Health), Buffalo, NY.
Correspondence to: John L. Pauly, Ph.D., Department of Immunology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm St. and Carlton St., Buffalo, NY 14263 (e-mail: pauly{at}SC3102.med.buffalo.edu).
As communicated previously in this Journal (1), the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) is selling "Eclipse" and Philip Morris, Inc., is marketing "Accord" as "cigarette-like nicotine delivery devices they hope will substantially lessen the health risks of conventional cigarettes" (1).
In his letter submitted to the Journal in August 1999, addressing safe cigarette alternatives, Dr. J. E. Swauger (2) of the RJR concluded that any assertion that the use of glass fibers in Eclipse represents a potential toxicologic concern to the smoker is simply not supported by the relevant facts. Swauger, however, withheld from the Journal reader our November 1998 publication (3) documenting the extensive contamination of Eclipse with glass fibers and glass particles. The RJR acknowledges that Eclipse filters have glass fibers (4).
In our investigation of Eclipse (3), glass fibers were (a) observed protruding from the tip, (b) identified on the white cigarette-wrapping paper, (c) viewed on the surface of the cork-appearing tipping paper, (d) found in the residue in a pack, (e) discovered lying freely on the cut surface of the filter by both light microscopy and electron microscopy, (f) harvested from the filter with adhesive tape, and (g) displaced when Eclipse was smoked mechanically.
The average number of glass fibers present in the residue of an Eclipse pack was 7548 (range, 1164–26725 glass fibers per pack) (3). Almost all (98%) of the Eclipse filters (352 of 360 cigarettes) were contaminated with glass (3).
Swauger argued that the glass fibers used in Eclipse are too large to be drawn into the human lung (2). This is not correct. The paper published by Hesterberg et al. (5), cited by Swauger, refutes Swauger's claim. In studies of rats, Hesterberg et al. (5) showed that inhaled glass fibers (a) were numerous, (b) were sequestered within the lung for a prolonged time, (c) were deposited deep in the lung airways, (d) resisted dissolution and retained their rod-shape appearance, and (e) were associated with pathologic abnormalities of the lung (microgranulomas and, in later studies, tumors). Specifically, in rats exposed to 30 mg/m3 of glass fiber-type MMVF 10 or MMVF 11, an average of 420000 and 640000 glass fibers/mg dry lung tissue, respectively, was recovered after 24 months (5).
Swauger's claim is refuted also by the following facts: (a) Glass fibers and respirable particles were seen routinely as contaminants of Eclipse (3,4); (b) the adult human lung often contains a large and heterogeneous population of fibers (these may include cotton, paper, plastic, and glass fibers); (c) we and others have observed in the residue of chemically digested human lung tissues glass fibers that are comparable in diameter (approximately 8.5 µm) to that of the glass fibers used in both Premier and Eclipse; and (d) the glass fibers used by Hersterberg et al. (5) were 2–6 µm in diameter, and they were observed not only in the rat lung alveolar spaces but also in both the interstitium and draining lymph nodes.
Other investigators (3,4,6) have expressed health concerns over the use of glass fibers in Eclipse. Schuller International, Inc. (currently known as Johns Manville Inc.), sued the RJR in 1995 to bar them from further use of Schuller's glass fibers in Eclipse (3,7).
Human health risks of inhaled glass fibers and particles, including lung cancer and non-neoplastic lung diseases, are known [partial listing of references: (3,4,6)]. Thus, there is no medical or scientific basis that enables Dr. Swauger to ensure that the glass fibers and glass fragments that contaminate Eclipse filters (a) are not inhaled and (b) do not pose a health risk to smokers.
REFERENCES
1
Holzman D. Safe cigarette alternatives? Industry critics say `not yet' [news]. J Natl Cancer Inst 1999;91:502–4.
2
Swauger JE. Re: Safe cigarette alternatives? Industry critics say `not yet' [letter]. J Natl Cancer Inst 1999;91:1892.
3 Pauly JL, Lee HJ, Hurley EL, Cummings KM, Lesses JD, Streck RJ. Glass fiber contamination of cigarette filters: an additional risk to the smoker? Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1998;7:967–79.[Abstract]
4
Pauly JL, Cummings KM, Streck, RJ. re: Pauly JL, Lee HJ, Hurley EL, Cummings KM, Lesses JD, Streck RJ. Glass fiber contamination of cigarette filters: an additional health risk to the smoker? [reply to letter from Swauger JE]. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1999;8:835–8.
5 Hesterberg TW, Miiller WC, McConnell EE, Chevalier J, Hadley JG, Bernstein DM, et al. Chronic inhalation toxicity of size-separated glass fibers in Fischer 344 rats. Fundam Appl Toxicol 1993;20:464–76.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]cancerlit;93300309
6 Infante PF, Schuman LD, Dement J, Huff J. Fibrous glass and cancer. Am J Ind Med 1994;26:559–84.[Web of Science][Medline]cancerlit;95109558
7 Schuller International, Inc., a Delaware Corporation (plaintiff) versus R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, a New Jersey Corporation (defendant). United States District Court for the District of Colorado, case No. 95-S-535, March 6, 1995.
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