Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis - Legacy Tobacco ...

138 1989 EMS Abstracts
Notes ETHICS AND THE ALLOCATION OF RISK : SCIENCE AND VALUES
Thomas H. Murray, Ph .D .
Center for Biomedical Ethics
School of Nedicine
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland OH 44106
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/clb93d00/pdf
A large number of ethical questions posed by research on
environmental mutagenesis need to be sorted out. They include
research on human subjects, the responsible use of information,
privacy and others . This paper will focus on an ethical question
with considerable social importance : How should scientific findings
and moral values be used in making public policy decisions about
the control of mutagenic substances in the environment and in the
workplace? The values that guide judgments about the relative
certainty of scientific claims differ from the standards that are
and should be used in making public policies that ought to be
informed by scientific findings. The struggle over regulation of
asbestos will form a case study of the interplay between science
and values in the making of public policy on toxic substances .
Such social decisions pose unavoidable questions about the
allocation of risk, which are also ethical questions, specifically
questions about justice .
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APPLICATION OF THE 32P-TECHNIQUL+ TO DETECT DNA-ADDUCTS BY CISPLATI N
R . Mustonen and K . Hemminki . Institute of Occupational Health .
Helsinki . Finland
The main reaction products of Sjg-diamminedichloroplatinum (II),
cisplatin. with DNA are intrastrand cross-links with dGpdG and . to a
lesser extent, dApdG . Platinum can be conveniently measured by atomic
absorption spectroscopy but with patient white blood cell DNA this
technique is presently at the limit of its sensitivity . We have
therefore applied the 32P-postlabelling technique to the DNA adducts
of cisplatin . The standard compound, intramolecular crosslink Pt-dGpdG
is labelled with T4 polynucleotide kinase and Y-32P-ATP, and the
products are separated by PEI-TLC and visualized by autoradiography .
standards containing a 5'-phosphate group are used as internal
standards . The phosphorylation of the cisplatin-adducts is a slow
process as compared to that of polycyclic adducts . but the levels of
adducts detected with the standard compounds are presently belo w
100 fmol . Adducts are also detected in DNA platinated vitro and
digested enzymatically to nucledtides .
CATECHIN AS AN ANTIMUTAGEN AND ANTICARCINOGEN .
M. Nagabhushan, Northwestern Universit , Department of Pathology, 303
E. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60611, U~A .
Betelquid chewing with or without tobacco is correlated with high incidence of oral
cancer in India. Betelquconsists of betelnut, betelleaf, catechu, slaked lime and spices .
Catechu is a nonawtagenic constituent of betelquid contain catechin as the principal
compound. Catechu extract and catechin inhibits the muugeniciry of tobacco, masheri, bidi
and cigarette smoke condensates, smoked meat charred and noncharred extracts, benzo(a)
pyrene (BP) and dimethylbenz(a) anthracene (DMBA) in a dose dependent manner in
salmonella/microsome test. Catechin inhibits the activity of Cyt P 450 and has no effect
on GST, but increased (1SH content in rat liver. Simultaneous treatment of catechin
prevents the mutagenicity of BP and DMBA metabolitis but pre or post-tteatment of
bacteria with catechin has no effect on the mutagenicity. Catechin also inhibited the in vitro
binding of 3HBP metabolitis to calf thymus DNA . Oral administration of catechin inhibits
the incidence of BP-induced forestomach tumors in female swiss mice . This study
indicates that catechu in betelquid may act as an antimutagen and anHcarcinogen and may
suppress the mutageniclcarcinogenic potential of other betelquid ingnedients .
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