Abstract
COMPLAINTS that several fishermen had contracted cancer of the skin after handling tar used for the preservation of nets resulted in an interested firm submitting a sample of their tar to this department to investigate its carcinogenic effect on mice. This particular tar (our No. 7) was said to have been manufactured in a horizontal retort at a temperature of 1100° C. It was found to be highly carcinogenic for the skin of mice, 75 out of 100 bearing malignant tumours after bi-weekly applications of the tar for forty weeks. This result compared very unfavourably with a number of tars, used for various purposes, previously tested by us.
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TWORT, J., LYTH, R. Skin Cancer due to Handling Coal Tars Used for Preservation of Fishing Nets. Nature 144, 446 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144446a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144446a0
