MUTAGENS OF POTENTIAL SIGNIFICANCE 233 



mechanism will account for the origin of Klincfeltcr's without the 

 occurrence of complementary Turner's. 



Summary of Discussion 



Zamenhof: The conclusion of today's meeting, as well as the other 

 two days, would perhaps be best summarized in a story told us by 

 Julian Huxley. At one meeting Huxley was approached by a gentle- 

 man of the press who asked him, "What are you scientists trying to 

 find out?" His answer was, "All we are trying to find out is something." 

 Nevertheless, we have to publish details of today's meeting because, 

 as Dr. Glass has pointed out, the thinking of other people may be 

 influenced by the results of such a conference as this, a conference 

 on an entirely new subject. 



In the past, there was the misconception, as Dr. Goldstein has 

 pointed out, that although the cell may be exposed to radiation, the 

 homeostasis or the constant environment in the cell precludes the 

 possibility of action of any chemicals. Perhaps because of this, al- 

 though the public has been shown the dangers of increasing our 

 mutational load by radiation, the danger of chemical mutagens as yet 

 awaits its Linus Pauling. 



Dr. Goldstein started his presentation by pointing out that many 

 of the mutagens which were discussed during the past two days are 

 actually used in everyday life, as drugs or otherwise, and therefore are 

 worth discussing. Of course, all we can accomplish here is intelligent 

 guessing, which is always subject to skepticism, but this is the best 

 we can do at the present time, and we should do it. 



Discussing in detail the substances which were implicated as muta- 

 gens, he mentioned that one of the drugs, phenoxybenzamine, is really 

 a nitrogen mustard, and there is little doubt that nitrogen mustards 

 are mutagens. Other potential mutagens are aldehydes, which are 

 used as drugs; phenols; nitrites, used as preservatives in meats, and 

 also as drugs and considered safe because people just don't care to 

 be up-to-date with basic research; and atropine and morphine as 

 well. 



Dr. Glass pointed out that /?-propiolactone is used as a drug to kill 

 viruses; yet, as he has shown, this agent breaks chromosomes and has 

 been shown to be a bacterial mutagen. Nicotine also has been shown 

 to break plant chromosomes, although, as Dr. Auerbach has pointed 

 out, plant chromosome breakage may not be the best phenomenon 

 to test mutagenicity. 



Dr. Goldstein was then concerned about the extent of exposure, and 



