IV 



THE GASWORKS PITCH INDUSTRIES AND 

 CANCER 1 



By H. C. Ross and J. W. CROPPER 



SOON after the publication of Induced Cell- 

 Reproduction and Cancer, we received a letter 

 referring to the incidence of cancer amongst the 

 workmen employed in the manufacture of fuel 

 " briquettes." The letter informed us of the pro- 

 posed Home Office Regulations to prevent this 

 incidence ; that the Regulations only applied to 

 workers with pitch made from gasworks tar, and 

 not from blast-furnace tar ; and asked if we could 

 indicate which ingredient caused the cancer, as it 

 could no doubt be eliminated during the distillation 

 of the tar. 



As this letter was the first information which 

 we had that the high incidence of cancer was 

 caused only by the gasworks pitch and not by the 

 blast-furnace pitch, and as this point is obviously 

 of great importance to cancer research, we com- 

 municated with the Home Office. Dr. (now Sir 

 Arthur) Whitelegge, the Chief Inspector of 

 Factories, kindly gave us full information, and 



1 Abridged from an article by us in The British Medical Journal, 

 April 15, 1911. 



43 



