Sea Island Research Conference, 1980

By 1980 BAT's researchers were trying to develop a cigarette with low sidestream smoke emission. The direction of the research was discussed at a research conference held in Sea Island, Georgia, on September 15 to 18, 1980. Notes from the conference, prepared by Dr. L. C. F. Blackman of BAT, state:

SIDESTREAM

20. There was strong support for research into the generation and control of sidestream smoke. Factors investigated should include the role of pH on sidestream nicotine and aroma. Research into the attitude of smokers and non-smokers to substantial reduction or elimination of sidestream smoke should be established.

21. Effort should be directed to developing a smoking article with greatly reduced tobacco content to reduce the material available for generation of sidestream. {1177.01, p. 4}

In addition, the notes from the meeting indicated that the BAT Group continued to support research on nitrosamines in sidestream smoke.

19. The research into the source and mechanism of formation of nitrosamines in both sidestream and mainstream should be continued with urgency. {1177.01, p. 4}

The entry suggests that the researchers had already isolated nitrosamines in sidestream and mainstream smoke, because the purpose of the research was to determine their source and formation. Thus, BAT may have again confirmed in its own laboratories that ETS contains dangerous substances.

While BAT's scientists were quietly conducting research on sidestream smoke, the general scientific community was becoming increasingly aware that passive smoking could cause a variety of diseases, including lung cancer. In 1981 a large epidemiological study on the relationship between passive smoking and lung cancer was published by Dr. Takeshi Hirayama (3). The study showed that nonsmoking women married to smokers were more likely to develop lung cancer than nonsmoking women married to nonsmokers. The Hirayama study received a great deal of publicity and, as we will discuss later in this chapter, was criticized vehemently by the tobacco industry. Nonetheless, shortly after the publication of Hirayama's paper, BAT began to study the "biological activity" of sidestream smoke. As discussed in chapter 4, the tobacco industry uses the term "biological activity" as a euphemism for carcinogenicity and other adverse health effects.