bat science - A - E

Research & development at British American Tobacco

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Tobacco specific terms only

Activated carbon
Odourless and tasteless powder or granulate of charcoal.  Its high porosity makes it an efficient absorbent in cigarette filters for certain markets.

Aerosol
Suspension of fine particles (0.01 to 20µm in diameter) of liquid or solids in a gas.

Ambient Smoke
The smoke in a room or localised environment.  Ambient smoke is a mixture of sidestream smoke and inhaled mainstream smoke.  (See also ETS)

Biomarkers of exposure
Substances that can be measured in a body fluid that show that a substance (e.g. cigarette smoke toxicant) has been taken into the body.  A Biomarker of Exposure for nicotine is its metabolite (metabolic breakdown product), cotinine.

Biomarker of potential harm
A specific biological molecule, change or effect that can be measured and that is indicative of the progress of disease.  For tobacco harm reduction we are interested in Biomarkers of Harm that can both respond to exposure to cigarette smoke Toxicants and are indicators of disease progression.

BSI
The British Standards Institute  Opens new windowis the National Standards body of the UK.

Burn additives
Additives applied to cigarette paper, usually in the size press of the paper making machine, to control the burn rate of cigarette.

Cambridge filter pads
Glass fibre filter pads, manufactured to a specification, used in smoking machines to collect smoke particulate matter.

Canadian intense
A machine smoking regime adopted by Health Canada in 1999 using 55mL puff volume, 2s puff duration, 30s puff interval and with 100% blocking of the filter ventilation.

Cellulose acetate
A fibre produced by the acetylation of cellulose and used as the raw material for filter manufacture. 
 
‘Clearing the Smoke’
Institute of Medicine. (2001). Clearing the Smoke: Assessing the Science Base for Tobacco Harm Reduction Opens new window. National Academy Press, Washington, DC. ISBN 0-309-07282-4.

Compensation
A change in smokers’ behaviour in response to smoking a product of different machine yield from their ‘normal’ product.  This can be either an increase or decrease in smoking intensity.

CORESTA
CORESTA Opens new window is the Centre de Coopération pour les Recherches Scientifiques Relatives au Tabac; (Cooperation Centre for Scientific Research Relative to Tobacco).  CORESTA is an association whose purpose is to promote international cooperation in scientific research relative to tobacco.

Cotinine
The first stable human metabolite of nicotine.

DIET
Dry Ice Expanded Tobacco is produced from cut leaf tobacco which is immersed in liquid CO2 at high pressures.  When the pressure is released the liquid CO2 which has become entrapped within the leaf cell structure converts to solid CO2.  The frozen tobacco is then passed through a stream of hot air and this causes the solid CO2 to sublime so increasing the vapour pressure of the CO2 and causing an expansion within the tobacco cell structure.

ESTOC
The European Smokeless Tobacco Council Opens new window represents the interests of smokeless tobacco manufacturers and distributors as well as tobacco trade associations.  They monitor all smokeless tobacco related issues, including the latest scientific developments at a European and worldwide level.

ETS
Environmental Tobacco Smoke is a complex mixture of chemicals that appears in an environment (for example, in a room) as a direct result of aged and diluted sidestream smoke and exhaled mainstream smoke.  (Sometimes also described as Ambient Smoke).

Expanded tobacco
See DIET.