Generated PAHs and PACs

Historical, chemical, and toxicological interest in PAHs and PACs goes back over two centuries when Sir 

Percival Pott proposed that the high rate of cancer of the scrotum incurred by London s chimney sweeps was due to the presence of certain chemicals in the fireplace soot (i.e., POM) to which they were heavily exposed (Pott, 1775). Some 150 years later, Passey (1925) reported that organic extracts of such domestic soot induced tumors in experimental animals. 

In the early 1940s, Leiter et al. (1942) demonstrated that a similar phenomenon occurred with organic extracts of ambient air particles—that is, injection of tars extracted from atmospheric dusts collected at locations throughout New York City produced subcutaneous sarcomas in mice. Shortly thereafter, Leiter and Shear (1943) reported that marginal doses of 3,4-benzpyrene (known today as benzol a jpyrene, BaP, I), the powerful carcinogen earlier isolated from coal tar and synthesized by Cook et al. (1933), also produced subcutaneous tumors in mice. 

Since then, many monographs, handbooks, symposia proceedings, and specialized chapters (in addition to thousands of research papers) dealing with the chemistry and biological and toxicological aspects of PAHs, POM, and PACs have appeared in the scientific, engineering, and medical sciences literature. Examples are cited in Box 10.1. 

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