Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/550307
20 tobaccoasia Two of these breakthroughs are added to the tobacco rod, two to the filter. Laboratory tests have shown they yield "substantially reduced lev- els of various tobacco smoke toxicants compared with conventional cigarettes." Even better results are predicted in heat-not- burn products, such as the electronic cigarette, Vype, launched last year. Yet another new arrival is a nicotine inhalation device currently being pre- pared for introduction into the UK market by the BAT subsidiary Nicoventures. One of the company's stated aims with the re- port is to assist the US Food and Drug Adminis- tration (FDA), described as "the thought leader in the regulation of tobacco and nicotine products". The FDA, following encouraging findings from the independent US Institute of Medicine, is devising frameworks for evaluation of modified risk tobacco products (MRTPs). It is also develop- ing in-house scientific resources at the Center for Tobacco Products, networking with other US sci- entific agencies and pushing for improved science resources for the evaluation of tobacco product regulation. "Much of the research in this report seeks to fill gaps in knowledge described by the Institute of Medicine and the FDA," says BAT. It also con- tributes to workshops to gather information on tobacco analysis held by the FDA's Center for To- bacco Products. In addition, the company's ana- lytical team collaborates with the regional product center for the Americas, with its headquarters in Brazil. This work evaluates core methods for the measurement of the 18 priority toxicants identi- fied in the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Once definitive methods for measuring the priority toxicants have been agreed upon, the fo- cus will move to the full list of 93 harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) identi- fied by the FDA. To assess chemical characterization of to- bacco smoke and next generation products, BAT is investigating and investing in a myriad of new methods and instruments. These include TOF- MS-based instruments and NMR spectroscopy. The report says the instruments "can simultane- ously detect about 2,500 substances in mainstream smoke condensate" and "NMR spectroscopy can detect and measure 20 of the 44 Hoffmann toxi- cants in mainstream tobacco smoke". The Science and Technology Report has con- tributions from 13 experts in their field on topics including aerosol science, good research practice, clinical studies, and in vitro tools for assessing dis- ease progression. BAT plans updates of the report as part of its widening commitment, saying, "We are pleased to open our doors to interested visitors, to host on- site scientific conferences, to seek collaborations with academic partners under US National Insti- tutes of Health (NIH) grant schemes, to publish in peer-reviewed journals, to present at key scientific conferences and to provide overviews of our goals and achievements on the company website." This year, a new science and technology app for mobile devices will expand on the report, in- cluding additional multimedia content such as video interviews with scientists. The full report is available at www.bat-science.com. "The instruments can simultaneously detect about 2,500 substances in mainstream smoke condensate" Animal Welfare BAT, along with a growing number of companies, including Phillip Morris Inter- national (PMI), has a long term commitment to phase out the use of animals when testing for product development. A BAT statement says: "We prefer not to test our products on animals and currently do not do this routinely. [...] Most of our product assessment relies on scientific literature, chemical analyses and biological tests based on cell cultures (in vitro tests)." The statement goes on to say that animal testing is only used when unavoidable, to meet legal and regulatory requirements or public health expectations. The company has no laboratory facilities for live animal work, and any such work is contracted out to external, government licensed organisations. Last year, Marianna Gaça of BAT's group research and development was voted onto the board of directors of the American Society for Cellular and Computational Toxicology. The non-profit organisation provides a forum to discuss in vitro and computational toxicology strategies, in particular as replacements for animal-based toxicology testing. The society's 100-plus members include scientists from the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, chemical and tobacco industries, as well as NGOs, federal agencies, journalists, regulators and animal welfare groups.