NEWS OF THE WEEK

TAINTED CIGARETTES Recall blamed on plasticizer contaminants

Contamination of ciga­rette filters with methyl isothiocyanate (MITC)

has led Philip Morris to recall 400 million packs of cigarettes from 330,000 retailers nation­wide. The company blames the problem on contaminants in a Hoechst Celanese plasti­cizer, glyceryl triacetate, used in the filters.

Hoechst Celanese responds: "Nothing indicates the compa­ny's products or processes could have contributed to the problems Philip Morris re­ports/' The chemical firm says it is working with Philip Mor­ris to "resolve" the problem and understand how it arose.

Cigarettes with defective filters— including such well-known brands as Marlboro, Virginia Slims, and Benson & Hedges—may have a noticeable odor or metallic off-taste. Users may experience eye, nose, and throat irritation, and diz­ziness, coughing, and wheezing.

Philip Morris charges that tainting of the filters with MITC resulted from a re­action of contaminants in Hoechst Celanese-supplied glyceryl triacetate with acetate filter tow (which Hoechst Celanese also supplied). The cigarette manufacturer applies the plasticizer to stiffen acetate filter tow before attaching it to cigarettes. A Philip Morris spokes­woman says scientists at its Richmond, Va., lab are sure the problem was caused by tainted glyceryl triacetate, although they have not yet identified the chemical reaction leading to MITC formation in the filter.

She says the company discovered the problem when workers detected an un­usual odor as the plasticizer was applied to filter tow at the firm's Concord, N.C., plant. Investigations at Concord and at plants in Richmond, Va., and Louisville also turned up contaminated glyceryl triacetate that Philip Morris traces to Hoechst Celanese.

MITC is used primarily as a soil fu-migant. Tobacco farmers employ pesti­cides, such as metham sodium, which break down into MITC in soil to kill fungus and nematodes. But Philip Morris discounts any contamination from that source.

Philip Morris, the largest U.S. ciga­rette manufacturer, believes few if any contaminated cigarettes reached con­sumers. But it undertook the $100 mil­lion recall, largely complete by now, to avoid potential harm to consumers. The company is encouraging smokers to return any of 36 affected brands to retail outlets for a refund.

Hoechst Celanese's problems have been a boon for Eastman Chemical, an­other supplier of glyceryl triacetate. Philip Morris is continuing to manufac­ture cigarettes but with glyceryl triace­tate from Eastman Chemical. A spokes­man for the Kingsport, Tenn.-based company acknowledges: "Our plasti­cizer shipments to cigarette companies, including Philip Morris, have increased substantially."

The Philip Morris spokeswoman says it is too early to say whether the company will attempt to recover from Hoechst Celanese both the $100 mil-

§ lion in recall costs and an £ additional $100 million in lost § business. She also discounts | any rumors that the glyceryl ° triacetate could have been

sabotaged. Fifty million adults in the

U.S. smoke cigarettes despite the well-known health warn­ings against smoking, notes tobacco industry analyst Gary Black of stockbroker Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., New York City. Philip Morris has nearly half the U.S. cigarette market, which Black values at $48 bil­lion annually at retail. Philip Morris will probably take a $200 million charge against earnings for the whole affair,

he adds—a drop in the bucket for a company with annual sales in excess of $65 billion from its cigarette, food, and other companies.

The recall, Black notes, is equivalent to going to the store and finding the dairy case empty because all the milk soured. "Smokers are a hardy bunch," he says. As Philip Morris restocks shelves, smokers are returning to brands they like.

Marc Reisch

Center to promote invention, innovation Jerome H. Lemelson is putting his mon­ey where his heart is: promoting creativ­ity among youth.

The Nevada-based independent in­ventor is donating $10.4 million to es­tablish the Jerome & Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & In­novation at the Smithsonian Institu­tion's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The gift— the largest cash donation ever present­ed to the museum by an individual— was announced at a press conference

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last week by Lemelson and Smithso­nian Secretary I. Michael Heyman.

The center aims at "rekindling the passion for discovery that inspired Jef­ferson, Franklin, Edison, and Bell/7

says Lemelson. He and his wife, Dor­othy, chose the Smithsonian as a part­ner because of its "vast collection of ar­tifacts and its proven ability to popu­larize real-life heroes."

The museum "holds national trea­sures of invention, from Alexander Gra­ham Bell's first telephone devices to Sey­mour Cray's supercomputer," notes Arthur P. Molella, who is center director and museum assistant director for histo­ry. And the museum maintains one of the most comprehensive collections of patent models at any public institution.

The center's mission is threefold: documentation of the U.S. heritage of invention and innovation, interpreta­tion of the heritage, and dissemination of materials and ideas about invention and innovation. Molella says a wide ar­ray of projects are lined up: oral and video histories of modern inventors; electronic databases of inventors, in­cluding location of their papers and ar­tifacts; symposia and conferences; fel­lowships and internships; public out­reach through various media including the Internet; educational projects, in­cluding interactive satellite programs; and lectures and demonstrations by in­ventors and entrepreneurs.

Activities have already started. Last week, the center held the first of a se­ries of lecture-demonstrations by U.S. inventors and entrepreneurs. And it is organizing an annual series of sympo­sia on issues related to invention.

Lemelson, 71, owns more than 500 U.S. patents for inventions ranging from computer-controlled machine tools to the communication device for fax machines. His inventions are li­censed worldwide.

The center is the most recent expres­sion of the Lemelsons' commitment to arousing U.S. youth's enthusiasm for invention. They have underwritten the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for excel­lence in invention and innovation— awarded for the first time in March (C&EN, April 3, page 5). They have es­tablished educational programs at sev­eral universities. They have given seed money for Nevada's Office of Science, Engineering & Technology, which pro­motes technological development in the state and advises the governor.

Lemelsons give Smithsonian's Heyman (right) their $10.4 million donation to establish center; Molella (inset) heads the center

And they helped fund the Hands-On Science Center at the museum's "Sci­ence in American Life" exhibit, which itself was funded by the American Chemical Society.

"The spirit of invention is a basic in­gredient of our democracy," says Lemel­son. "Nearly every critical technological innovation of the 20th century . . . came forth from the minds of Americans." Young wizards—like Apple Computer cofounders Steven P. Jobs and Steve Wozniak—show that U.S. inventors and innovators can develop multi-billion-dollar industries, he notes.

Yet despite this heritage, he adds, "American kids have stopped dream­ing about Thomas Edison and have be­gun striving to be like [basketball star Michael Jordan]." He views this trend as a threat: "The U.S. economy has be­gun to suffer from the loss of our pas­sion for discovery. We are less produc­tive, less affluent, less secure than we once were. Unless we recapture our de­sire to design and build and sell to the world the proverbial better mouse trap, we will still be less affluent and [less] secure in years to come."

Maureen Rouhi

Herbicide-resistant crops move closer to market The Environmental Protection Agency has removed the last major barrier to the employment of herbicide-resistant crops by approving use of two herbi­cides on such plants.

The approvals make possible the first commercialization of herbicide-re­sistant plants—products of genetic en­gineering touted since the early days of biotechnology. In allowing use of the herbicides on these crops, EPA says the products pose no acute or chronic di­etary concerns.

The first treatment approved was bro-moxynil, a broadleaf herbicide made by Rhone-Poulenc Inc. and sold as Bucrril, which was cleared for use on bioengi-neered cotton varieties. The cotton seeds are modified with a bacterial gene, called the BXN gene, that detoxifies bro-moxynil. Calgene, of Davis, Calif., devel­oped the resistant cotton, which was ap­proved last year by the Department of Agriculture.

Monsanto has received EPA clear­ance to use its herbicide glyphosate on an herbicide-resistant soybean strain it developed. Glyphosate, a nonselective herbicide sold as Roundup, is one of the most widely used pesticides in the world. Bioengineered to be glyphosate resistant, this "Roundup Ready" soy­bean already was cleared by USDA and the Food & Drug Administration.

Impacts on crop production will be negligible this year. EPA has limited bromoxynil-resistant cotton to test acreage for the next two years and then will review the registration. Less than 50,000 acres of the bioengineered cot­ton will be planted this year. It will also take some time for a supply of seed to be produced for farmers.

The same goes for the soybeans. A Monsanto spokesman says it will take a couple of years to "bulk up" seed supplies of the Roundup-resistant plant. The company will plant mostly

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