Specific Nitrosamine Analysis Trapped Cigarette Smoke 90
GC: Tracor 560/700A HECD Column temp: 145X
Compounds: 1 DMNA 2 DBNA
nuclear exchange would generate an enormous cloud of dust that would trigger a global cooling. It also would cause a drastic reduction in the earth's protective ozone layer—exposing the surface to intense UV radiation potentially fatal to humans. In answer to a question, he explained that comparing the danger to mankind from nuclear power to that from nuclear weapons is like comparing a bruised elbow with injuries from a major auto accident. In fact, he said, "there is no real comparison." Nuclear weapons are a major survival issue for mankind, the potential dangers from nuclear power are not. The intensity and crucial nature of the problems presented by the nuclear arms race was the major theme that evolved from the symposium. Pauling said, "There is no greater problem in the world." He added that any approach to the problem should be both rational and moral. "It should concentrate on the immorality of national actions—both by our nation and by others." Richard Barnet, a fellow of the Institute of Policy Studies, stated that
there is a desperate need for a serious debate on national security policy, as each new weapons system creates uncertainty and increases irrationality. Jeremy Stone, director of the Federation of American Scientists, brought the symposium, which at times reached quite an emotional level of debate, back to reality by pointing out that to be effective any action toward arms control by AAAS or anyone else must rise above reiteration of well-known facts about the horror and immorality of nuclear war. The need is for idealism and pragmatism and a scheme on which there can be national unity. He also stressed that arms control needs bilateral action. He says that one route may be a negotiated year-by-year reduction in the weapons levels proposed under Salt II. Everett Mendelsohn, Harvard professor of the history of science and an organizer of the AAAS resolution, told the symposium that a national will for disarmament must be created. An early step must be a moratorium on nuclear arms development. D
Phénobarbital produces birth defects in rats
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C&ENJan. 2 1 , 1980
Phénobarbital, a widely prescribed sedative and an ingredient of many multicomponent medications, has been shown to produce developmental abnormalities and infertility in the offspring of rats that receive the drug during pregnancy. These results were presented by University of Pennsylvania pharmacologist Sumner J. Yaffe at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco. "It is important that concepts [of birth defects] be extended beyond the narrow limits of congenital anatomic malformations to functional effects upon the fetus," Yaffe says. "Toxic manifestations of intrauterine exposure to environmental agents may be subtle, quite unexpected, and also delayed." Yaffe recalls that concern for delayed effects of drugs was first raised after females exposed in the womb to diethylstilbestrol (DES) were found to suffer a high incidence of vaginal cancer upon reaching puberty. Somewhat less severe reproductive defects also showed up in males. In the phénobarbital work, Yaffe's colleague, Chandra Gupta, previously had shown that the drug acts on the neuroendocrine system in adult animals to affect reproductive function. To test the drug's impact on fetuses, the researchers administered small doses of it to female rats during the
17th or 18th day of their 21-day pregnancy. "It's hard to equate the dose to man," Yaffe says, "but it was small enough that the rats did not fall asleep." Pregnancy was uneventful and the litters were normal—except that the pups exposed to phénobarbital in utero were significantly smaller than the controls. Moreover, they continued to be smaller until adulthood, when they caught up. More serious, the female pups suffered a significant delay in reaching puberty, followed by irregularities in the estrous cycle of two thirds of the adult females, and infertility in 60% of them. "This is a permanent effect," says Yaffe. "The rats will not revert to normal." The mechanism for these aberrations is unknown, he adds, although he and Gupta suspect that all the symptoms stem from changes in the neuroendocrine system. "The clinical significance of these experiments in animals is admittedly unknown," Yaffe concludes, " b u t . . . warrants careful scrutiny of the safety of these agents during human pregnancy." The Pennsylvania researchers plan to look for similar effects with other psychotropic agents, such as the widely used tranquilizer diazepam (Valium). D
