Pott, Percival

Sir Percival Pott published in 1775 the first record of occupation-ally related human cancers this London physician recognized the link between cancer of the scrotum and the occupation of chimney sweep. More of Sir Percy s work will be described in Chapter 5. 

Because adverse skin responses are so easily recognizable, this organ was among the earliest subjected to scrutiny, mostly by physicians interested in occupational diseases. Bernardino Ramazzini s tract of 1700, De Moribis Artificum Diatriba, contained many examples of skin diseases associated with occupational exposures, and, as will be seen in the next chapter, the seminal work of Percival Pott on occupationally induced cancers, published in 1775, revealed the role of soot in the production of cancers on the skin of the scrotum in London chimney sweeps. 

Human cancers were much discussed by Galen and most medical commentators ever since, and dozens of hypotheses regarding the origins etiologies) of these diseases are recorded in the medical literature. A seminal event relevant to our present concerns about the environment occurred in 1775. A British surgeon, Percival Pott, published his observations on high rates of cancer of the scrotum among London chimney sweeps. Pott attributed the cancers to the soot with... 

The history of the relationship between environmental agents and cancer is a long one. To begin with, the British surgeon Percival Pott noted in 1775 that young boys employed in London as chimney sweeps suffered an abnormally high frequency of scrotal cancer. Clearly, there was something in the coal tar to which they were exposed in their miserably filthy work that elicited this cancer. 

The first description of an occupational cancer was made by a British surgeon, Percival Potts in 1775. This was cancer of the scrotum in young chimney sweeps in the 18th century in Britain. Many young boys, who were small enough to climb up chimneys, were employed to remove the soot. They probably worked whilst clad in very few clothes so that there would be frequent damage to the scrotum which, with direct exposure to soot, could lead to the development of cancer, which was known as chimney sweep s cancer or epithelioma of the scrotum. 

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. 

Probably the earliest such observation was by Sir Percival Pott, an English physician, in 1775. He noted that chimney sweeps, who tended to suffer from scrotal cancer, were also exposed to soot and tar. He correctly connected these two events. More recent research confirmed that coal tar and the aromatic hydrocarbons it contains will cause cancer of the skin in experimental animals. 

There were some important developments during the eighteenth century. Probably the best known is the publication of Ramazini s Diseases of Workers in 1700, which led to his recognition as the father of occupational medicine. The correlation between the occupation of chimney sweeps and scrotal cancer by Percival Pott in 1775 is almost as well known, although it was foreshadowed by Hill s correlation of nasal cancer and snuff use in 1761. 

Two of the earliest observations that exposure of humans to certain chemicals or substances is related to an increased incidence of cancer were made independently by two English physicians, John Hill in 1771 and Sir Percival Pott in 1776. Hill observed an increased incidence of nasal cancer among snuff users, while Pott observed that chimney sweeps had an increased incidence of scrotal cancer. Pott attributed this to topical exposure to soot and coal tar. It was not until nearly a century and a half later in 1915 when two Japanese scientists, K. Yamagiwa and K. J. Itchikawa, substantiated Pott s observation by demonstrating that multiple topical applications of coal tar to rabbit skin produced skin carcinomas. This experiment is important for two major... 

Cancer, in fact, has afflicted humans around the world and throughout recorded history. The origin of the word cancer is credited to the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 Bc), considered the father of medicine. Hippocrates used the terms car-cinos and carcinoma to describe non-ulcer-forming and ulcer-forming tumors. Bernardino Ramazzini, an Italian doctor, reported in 1713 the high incidence of breast cancer in nuns. Percival Pott of Saint Bartholomew s Hospital in London described in 1775 an occupational cancer in chimney sweeps, cancer of the scrotum, caused by soot collection under the scrotum of workers. 

As men and women can spend up to a third of their lives at work, what they are exposed to in the workplace is of great importance. One of the first diseases that was clearly recognized to be due to an occupational hazard was cancer of the scrotum, which occurred in chimney sweeps. This was first recognized and described by Sir Percival Pott in 1775. It was, apparently, due to the exposure to soot and coal tar. It was not until much later (in 1916) that it was shown experimentally that coal tar could cause cancer in rabbits exposed to it. In many cases of industrial diseases resulting from exposure to chemicals, especially in earlier times, the association has been made by studying populations (epidemiology), while the basic experimental work has provided the evidence only later. 

The discovery that exposure to exogenous chemicals could lead to cancer in humans was first made in the late 18th century, when Percival Pott demonstrated the relationship between cancer of the scrotum and the occupation of chimney sweepers exposed to coal tar/soot. Other examples noted later were scrotal cancers in cotton spinners exposed to unrefined mineral oils, and cancers of the urinary bladder in men who worked in textile dye and rubber industries due to their exposure to certain aromatic amines used as antioxidants. Experimental induction of cancer by chemicals was first reported in detail by Yamagiwa and Ichikawa in 1918, when repeated application of coal tar to the ear of rabbits resulted in skin carcinomas. Over the next few years, Kennaway and Leitch confirmed this finding and demonstrated similar effects in mice and rabbits from the application of soot extracts, other types of tar (e.g., acetylene or isoprene), and some heated mineral oils. These researchers also observed skin irritation sometimes accompanied by ulcers at the site of application of the test material. Irritation was thought to be an important factor in skin tumor development. However, not all irritants (e.g., acridine) induced skin cancer in mice and conversely, some purified chemicals isolated from these crude materials... 

In 1775, in what is probably the earliest reported evidence of occupationally associated cancer, Percival Pott reported that cancer of the scrotum was particularly prevalent and occurred at an unusually early age among chimney sweeps (Lilienfeld et al. 1967). Pott also postulated that some characteristic of chimney sweeps was relevant to the production of the disease. Following Pott s observations, other studies reported increased risks of cancer among certain occupationally and environmentally... 

Partly as a result of epidemiological evidence it is now generally accepted that the majority of human cancers result from exposure to environmental carcinogens these include both natural and man-made chemicals, radiation and viruses. This concept follows on from many observations and work in the early part of the century which showed that coal tar, and then the aromatic hydrocarbons derived from it, could induce skin cancer in animals. Indeed, the relationship between such substances and cancer was suggested as early as the 18th century, when in 1775 Sir Percival Pott related scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps to exposure to soot and coal tar. 

In 1775, a British physician named Percival Potts was the first to recognize that environmental factors can cause cancer, when he became aware that chimney sweeps had a higher incidence of scrotum cancer than the male population as a whole. He theorized that something in the chimney soot was causing cancer. We now know that it was benzo[a]pyrene. 

Although occupational epidemiology officially goes back to 1775, when an English physician named Percival Pott observed an unusually large occurrence of scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps, most of the methods currently employed in occupational studies have been developed in the past twenty years. 

As long as man has had fire, he has had PAH in his environment. Since Percival Pott discovered (1) that chimney sweepers in... 

Percival Pott (1713—1788), a London surgeon, is best known for being the first to establish the relationship between an occupation (chimney sweep), a toxin (polyaromatic hydrocarbons [PAH] from soot), and malignancy (testicular cancer). Pott was a brilliant physician whose discoveries and theories are in a large part still accepted and utilized today. 

Percival Pott describes scrotal cancer in chinmey sweeps, the first occupational cancer. 

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