SCIENTIFIC SMOKING.

Thames Star, Volume LXII, Issue 17386, 26 March 1928, Page 6

SCIENTIFIC SMOKING.

ELIMINATING NICOTINE. A MATTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH. Various methods for eliminating the nicotine tohacco smoke and from the juice which is apt to form in pipes are described in a lecture by Dr. W. E. Dixon of the Cambridge (England') Pharmeocological Laboratory, reported iu the British Medical Journal (London). A porous substance, he says, may be put into the stem of the' nine; * the space for cooling and condensation may be increased, or some stibstnace which facilitates oxidation- may be placed in the bowl of the pipe. These last pines are called catalytic, and the

bonis are lined with some metallic oxide, like that of platinum, in a fine state of division. By passing tobacco smoke over it the nicotine and pyridin derivatives are decomposed. These pipes have not, however, found favour, he reports. He goes on: "Another method of improving tobacco, consists in removing some of its nicotine by means of solvents. ' These so-called denicotinised tobaccos have 50 per cent, or more of their nicotine removed, and have been regarded therefore, by physicians as relatively harmless, at al events as far as their nicotine is concerned. Unfortunately this is not the case, because it has been shown that these denicotinised cigars yield in their smoke as much nicotine as was present in the same class of cigar before denicotinisation.

"Improved methods of removing the nicotine are. however, now being experimented with abroad. Boxes oi' cigarettes. ■ and tobaccos in various forms i\,ve treated with superheated steam; by this means practically the whole of the nicotine is said to be removed, and the tobacco is left nico-tine-free; the nicotine has a ready sale for agricultural purposes. J. have had no opportunitw, however, of experimenting with these products. "Tobacco is a substance foreign to the body, and its akaloid is poisonous J 1 am not suggestion that tobacco should bo guaranteed to contain not more than a specified amount of nicotine, in the same way as Spirits are standardised for alcohol; but as tobacco is similar to alcoholic beverages. in that excess of both leads to serious results, the public should have some sort of guidance or protection. It is almost certain, for example, that it is the moistness of the tobacco which is indirectly responsible for many of its most serious effects; that the pyridin derivatives are largely responsible for morning cough, which leads later to chronic bronchitis and cardiac failure. These- are conditions which at least are capable of improvement. The Ministry of Health, which has aready done much for providing pure foods of a certain standard, wil, I hope, before long see in tobacco an important factor in the public health."