Kronberg Research Conference, 1969

The minutes of the research conference at Kronberg, Germany (June 1969), deal mostly with smoking and health concerns (discussed in

detail in chapter 4), but there are several salient comments related to nicotine.

PEI (polyethyleneimine), a filter additive that boosted the delivery of "extractable nicotine" in cigarette smoke, was used in a series of human test panel experiments {1205.03}. Increased levels of "extractable nicotine" increased the "impact of inhaling" while producing a "small increase" in throat and nose irritation. The minutes note that a suggested upper limit for PEI is 3 percent of the filter by weight, because of concern about adverse effects on bioassay results {1169.01, p. 8}. The PEI work is discussed at several different places in the documents.

Nicotine received specific attention when the participants discussed the development of nontobacco materials for smoking.

There was a general discussion on non-tobacco materials and, largely due to the difficulties foreseen with the addition of nicotine, the Conference did not envisage at present the likely success of a totally non-tobacco cigarette. However, it now seems quite likely that non-tobacco materials will be successfully incorporated into cigarettes as blend constituents, particularly in health oriented products. A large usage of non-tobacco materials would be likely to increase the demand for high-nicotine tobaccos [emphasis added]. {1169.01, p. 8}

The development of a completely tobacco-free product was seen as unlikely because nicotine would have to be added. In making this judgment, the participants may have been thinking about a regulatory barrier. If nicotine were added to a tobacco substitute material, a drug regulatory authority such as the FDA might raise questions about whether the nicotine in this instance was a drug.