INDUSTRIAL and ENGINEERING C HEM I STRY Published by the American Chemical Sooiety
EDITORIALS
HARRISON E. HOWE. Editor
I
Tracers
may have upon our knowledge of physiology. It is not unlikely that many theories of dieticians and others will be upset and in time a new crop of texts must make their appearance. The discoveries of the isotopes were heralded as of the first importance, but in view of these unique uses for them it seems likely that their real value is not yet fully realized.
THE
value of means for positive identification is unquestioned. We meet such situations too frequently to leave any doubt of that. When, in addition, the means employed permit tracing that will reveal the action of the substance so tagged, the procedure may acquire the greatest value. We learned a t Rochester that isotopes have been found perfect tracers in some of the most difficult research. Heavy hydrogen has served to enable physiologists t o follow closely the fate of food inside the body and now heavy nitrogen is playing a similar role. Results have already appeared showing what happens to ordinary water in the body, and Rudolf Schoenheimer at Rochester reported details of his studies, in which fat has been traced in the body by means of heavy hydrogen. He has found, among other things, that from 25 to 50 per cent of the fat consumed is stored in tissues between skin and muscle; also that while most fats burn slowly in the body, butter fat is completely and rapidly consumed. Dr. Schoenheimer also determined that animals renew their fat every 5 to 9 days and that some materials, such as cholesterol which has been thought to be stable and resistant, are renewed a t least to the extent of 50 per cent in 15 to 20 days. Heavy nitrogen is useful in the same way in learning what happens to protein. It is interesting that, even though a very small number of these tracer atoms are taken in the food, and indeed as a part of the food, merely replacing some of the ordinary atoms, they can be very definitely traced and their presence identified with certainty. Artificially produced radioactive substances have also been used as tracers for such investigations as the circulation of phosphorus in the body, which has thrown new light on the physiology of the brain. Generally speaking, the use of isotopes is probably accompanied by less hazard than radioactive substances. What has been done in tracing the intricacies of processes in the body can no doubt be done in tracing the path of atoms in many other reactions, including those of industrial significance. The real point, however, would seem to be the influence which these new tools
Industrial Pharmacology and Hygiene
THIS
is a subject to which we expect to return again and again, for in many respects it is one of the most pressing before the chemical industry-one which presents many difficulties and where work should be encouraged on the part of individual companies as well as in cooperation. No one can gainsay that the chemical industry successfully guards its workers against the known hazards of its occupations. The determination to have steps in manufacture and in the handling of toxic chemicals made as safe as science and human ingenuity can make them is proved by many installations, as well as by the sustained activity of the safety departments in most plants. However, that these hazards have been often magnified beyond their true proportions by persons influenced by petty, if not ulterior motives, is to be expected. With possible recovery of damages under workmen’s compensation laws as a bait, attorneys have not been lacking to interpret any ill of a chemical employee, whether a stubbed toe or an organic disease, to be the direct result of the hazards of his occupation and hence compensable under the law. The chemical industry, so often the prey of scandalmongers, finds itself in the unenviable position, in the face of such attacks, of lacking complete and reliable information with which to defend itself. There is no reasonable connection between the chemical compounds handled and a great number of the complaints lodged in the hope of profits under compensation laws. Yet such are the states of the public mind, and even of expert knowledge of the pharmacological effects of many of the newer materials constantly being made, that chemical industry frequently finds itself pilloried by the one and stripped of adequate defense by the other.
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Rather recently a case developed that completely proves our point. A workman employed for years by the company had been assigned for a long time to the manufacture of a chemical compound which had never caused any trouble. One day after climbing the stairs in this department, he fell over dead. An autopsy showed that death was caused by coronary thrombosis, but there was a lawyer who immediately tried to make a compensation case of it, and at the trial called an expert of splendid reputation. The latter knew nothing of, and could find nothing about, the pharmacological or toxicological effects of the compound, but in the end he had to admit that it was a derivative of a chemical known to be toxic. That was enough for the lawyer, who could argue to the jury, and to most judges for that matter, that, being derived from a toxic chemical, it must itself be toxic. The compound in question is only one of many about which nothing really authentic exists as to its pharmacological effects or its toxicity. In the main this vital matter has been neglected far too long. We have had occasion to commend those companies which have instituted research in the field and in particular the Haskell Laboratory of Industrial Toxicology opened some two years ago by the du Pont Company. It was understood from the beginning that any results which might be of general interest would be published in the proper journals, and to date seventeen such articles have appeared where they would be of general utility. The same attitude is taken by the Government, and it is a general experience that such papers, after passing the criticism of editorial boards and having appeared, will be considered seriously in court and under similar circumstances. Whatever the source, any data that are based on critical observation and experimentation should be published, in order that our knowledge may be enlarged as rapidly as possible. Reluctance to admit that a hazard may exist is doubtless responsible for the present lack of exact and authoritative information on the part of industry concerning its own physiological problems, but upon the individuals and companies comprising the chemical industry must rest the duty of correcting this deficiency. Much of the work will, of course, be the special care of individual companies, but where the problems exist in common, a joint project would undoubtedly have its advantages. In the research we urge, the emphasis must be placed upon “critical” and “competent.” The toxicological literature abounds in misleading reports, and unfortunately it is this type of information which so often gives the shyster lawyer the material which serves his purpose and which sometimes is difficult to disprove. This critical work must be carried on by thoroughly competent investigators supplied with adequate and proper equipment. Unless this is done, the findings could be detrimental, rather than helpful, in providing a basis for sound conclusions upon which the industry can set up a just defense.
VOL. 29, NO. 10
New Times and New Customs
THE
recent successful meeting of the SOCIETY in Rochester was notable, among other things, for the number of interesting symposia covering many special activities of chemists. All attracted their quota, but none more than the discussion of the proposition, “Are Patents on Medicinal Discoveries and on Foods in the Public Interest?”, which will be published in our November issue. There was some reason to believe that differences of opinion would develop on the fundamental question of whether medicines in particular should be patented, because for years the American Medical Association had maintained a position that such patents were unethical and were to be discouraged. That argument did not materialize. ’ Schley presented a sound thesis for the issuance of such patents. In his opinion society might lose terribly if the encouragement which a patent gives is withheld. and in such a case some research might not be undertaken, or if carried out might be kept secret. The spur to necessary investigations, the protection of the manufacturer to justify costly development, and the suitable reward to the discoverer, whether it be for a medicine or a mousetrap, were regarded as essential. The only difference is: how can that reward be made and at the same time insure society against the exploitation of those who are ill? Russell recounted the experience of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. But the greatest surprise was the agreement of Morris Fishbein, of the American Medical Association, that patents in medicine are needed. He based his pronouncement upon the fact that today inventions and discoveries are most frequently the result of the efforts of a group of workers, and in the case of patents resulting from such coijperative work situations arise where the physician alone of all the group remains without direct remuneration, because of the present ethics of his profession. The real differences of opinion revolve around the question of setting up a central nonprofit organization t o administer medicinal and food patents, with the obligation to prevent the exploitation of the public, to provide from the royalties from patents for the continuatiion of research, suitably to reward the scientist, be he phyoician, chemist, or what not, and a t the same time to make the development of the patents attractive to industry. Dr. Fishbein proposed that this might be done by the American Medical Association, but others felt that there must be a better solution. It seems apparent that some way must be found t o offer scientists in every field the encouragement which the patentability of a discovery may give and the proper remuneration for their achievements. How to do it and harmonize the profit with the nonprofit motive is a problem that may well engage the attention of some oi our best minds.
