sample="quota" bates="501010054" isource="rjr" decade="1980" class="ui" date="19831031" RJR MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT October 1983 1. VdC Meetings: TFA: October 10, 1983 VdC Board: October 11, 1983 1.1 VdC Research 1.1.1 Experiment on Public Smoking a) Epidemiologic Study Experiments to verify the test subjects' exposure to "public smoking" are continued by means of measuring nicotine/cotinine levels in the test subjects' saliva; analyses are done by Wynder who is suspected to block the communication of data to Ueberla. Reemtsma's ERGO subsidiary will now be approached. It is expected that Ueberla will give a lecture about the interim results at the upcoming "Public Smoking Symposium" in Vienna, April 1984. 1.1.2 Alleged in vivo formation of nitrosoproline in non-smokers exposed to "public smoking" The experiment is to be conducted by the Schievelbein team. Since Prof. Adlkofer and Dr. Klus have been invited to an upcoming Nitrate Congress in Copenhagen (January 1984), Adlkofer proposed to give a lecture about the results of this nitrosoproline study as well as on urinary hydroxyproline excretion (pls. note: a Japanese professor, Dr. Kasuga, alleges that nitrogen oxides in tobacco smoke cause an increase in urinary hydroxyproline excretion: in the TFA meeting on May 11, 1983, the analyses were approved by the TFA, RJR abstained). The TFA agreed upon this, RJR abstained because of methodological concerns. The "sidestream smoke analysis" task force will probably have to give input concerning the execution of the experiments. 1.1.3 Contemplated Study on the verification of cotinine as an indicator for nicotine uptake It is contemplated to have the Schievelbein team conduct this study which is considered by Adlkofer a prerequisite for future activities in the field of nicotine metabolism. In the TFA meeting RJR's proposals concerning proband recruitment (in order to get an impressino of inter-individual differences in the metabolism of nicotine to cotinine) were rejected by Adlkofer. Finally, it was decided that the "dosimetry" task force shall receive a copy of the research protocol for review; the TRA will decide on November 9, 1983. 1.1.4 Analyses to be conducted by Reemtsma's ERGO subsidiary Adlkofer proposed that Reemtsma's ERGO subsidiary (because of a cheap offer) should do the nicotine/cotinine analyses of body fluid samples of the second preliminary Munich study on smoking behavior (Prof. Schievelbein) as well as nitrite/nitrate analyses of urine samples from the previous nitrosoproline study. The TRA agreed upon this, RJR abstained because of methodological concerns. 1.2 Other VdC Matters 1.2.1 Cadmium Congress on "Heavy metals in the environment" in Heidelberg Dr. Haffner (analytical chemist of BAT) informed the TFA about the congress which under the aspect of cadmium did not seem to add much to existing knowledge. Fraunhofer Society claimed that via inhalation the cadmium level in blood increases and informed about contemplated animal inhalation studies with aerosolized heavy metal compounds. The BAT/VdC poster on cadmium in mainstream smoke was frequented mainly by physicians who asked scientific questions. Dr. Haffner considered past and present activities by Industry concerning cadmium as sufficient. Adlkover, however, emphasized the necessity for future VdC efforts. 1.2.2 Larger Research Facilities for the Schievelbein team Researchers of the Schievelbein team, who work on VdC projects, will soon have larger research facilities in Munich. 2. Forschungrsrat 2.1 Study on nicotine metabolism Adlkover intends to have Prof. Luecker (expert on pharmacokinetics) conduct a comprehensive study on nicotine metabolism for the Forschungrsrat. 3. ASFC 3.1 Meeting of the Public Smoking Task force of the ASFC Scientific Commission with Dr. Schlatter on October 4, 1983 Results of the meeting were: a) Dr. Schlatter will distribute his revised (final draft) review paper in late October/early November 1983. b) In November, the ASFC will have to decide on whether or not to publish Dr. Schlatter's final draft review paper in a high caliber scientific journal. In case of non-publishing, Dr. Schlatter's final draft would remain an internal ASFC paper for internal use, exclusively. 3.2 ASFC Test on Filter-ventilated Cigarettes The ASFC Test was discussed in the meeting of the Scientific Commission on October 17, 1983. Results were: 1. The test results (without Barclay), as presented by PM, Laurens, Burrus and RJR, showed that, for 1 mg and 8-10 mg brands, the condensate levels as obtained by human and machine smoking were in the same order of magnitude. 2. BAT contradicted but did not give convincing scientific evidence against the methodology. Some of their results even corroborated the results as obtained by the other four companies. 3. PM, Laurens, Burrus and RJR will submit their test results to the ASFC for distribution within the Scientific Commission by the end of November. BAT promised to continue the experiment (since they had taken only 4 test subjects instead of 10 as required). 4. Another four 1 mg brands (incl. Barclay) plus four 8-10 mg brands will be tested in a second study in order to validate the methodology. 5. In the next meeting of the ASFC Scientific Commission on December 2, 1983, the test results of PM, Laurens, Burrus and RJR plus those of BAT (as produced in the meantime) will be discussed as well as preliminary results from the second study. 3.3 ASFC Research In 1984, an ASFC grant shall be given to a leading scientist in the field of cardiovascular diseases in order to have him write a scientific review paper about scientific evidence that smoking is not a factor contributing to cardiovascular diseases. 4. RJR Research 4.1 Dr. Ruediger Dr. Ruediger has presented a well-received poster at a recent Congress on Cancer Research in Copenhagen. An article on results of the experiments with monocytes is in preparation. 5. Legislation 5.1 United Kingdom On June 21, 1983 an amendment of the list of permitted additives for tobacco products was published in the London Gazette. Most notable is the permission to use cocoa an Maillard reaction flavors for cigarette tobacco. 6. Standardization 6.1 ISO Convention in Sintra / Portugal, October 3-7, 1983 Key results were: a) The current ISO Standard Smoking Method shall be revised by including electrostatic trapping as an equivalent method to Cambridge Filter trapping. b)A Standard Method for Carbon Monoxide Determination is to be prepared as a draft. c) The Swiss delegation will have to prepare a draft proposal concerning the definition and measurement of "air leakage" of cigarette holders (BARCLAY problem) 7. Publications - Press Reports/Press Releases 7.1 Recent Congress on Cardiovascular Diseases At a recent congress of the European Organization against Cardiovascular Diseases (EOCCD) in Munich, the failure of the "MRFIT" study was emphasized and the risk factor concept was questioned. Prof. R. H. Rosenmann (Institute of Behavioral Medicine, San Francisco) stated that "smoking does not affect the cardiac status". Psychic factors and stress were considered to cause cardiovascular diseases. 8. Miscellaneous 8.1 Upcoming launch of nicotine containing chewing gum in Germany LEO, a Swedish drug manufacturer, will introduce a nicotine containing chewing gum to German physicians by means of a symposium on "Smoking and Health" on November 23 - 24, 1983 headed by Prof. Brengelmann, Munich. Invited guest speakers are E.L. Wynder and Prof. Kunze (Vienna). It is expected that the chewing gum will then be marketed in Germany. O. Stuhl October 31, 1983 OS/gf