Smoking

Information Section--Fd Chem. Toxic. Vol. 33, No. 4 6 hr/day, 5 days/wk for up to 2 yr, cancer of the nasal cavity developed in rats exposed to the highest concentration. At 200 ppm and above non-cancerous microscopic changes to the nasal cavity were observed in both rats and mice. A no-observed-adverseeffect level was 50ppm (Bogdanffy et al., Fundamental and Applied Toxicology 1994, 23, 215). No treatment-related effects that were regarded as toxicologically significant were seen in a study in which rats were exposed in utero and then for up to 1 yr to drinking water containing 0, 200, 1000 or 5000ppm (providing approximately 0, 10, 47 and 202mg vinyl acetate/kg body weight/day in males and 0, 16, 76 and 302 mg/kg body weight/day in females) (Bogdanffy et al., Fundamental and Applied Toxicology 1994, 23, 206).

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Smoking An association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and poorer performance among their 6-1 l-yr-old children in tests designed to assess problems with auditory processing has been reported by investigators from Canada. The performance of 110 children was correlated with a maternal smoking history of non- (n = 40), light- (between 0 and 16 mg nicotine/day, n = 45) or heavy- (>/16 mg nicotine/ day, n---25) smoking. The decrease in performance reached statistical significance in the 25 children whose mothers reported a heavy smoking habit during their pregnancy (McCartney et al., Neurotoxicology and Teratology 1994, 16, 269). [P. Copestake--BIBRA]