Tobacco tar and experimental cancer (Roffo)
Alquitranes del tabaco y cáncer experimental (Roffo)
- Date
- 1931 · confidence medium
- Place
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Credited to
- Ángel Honorio Roffo
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Roffo induced tumours in rabbits with tobacco tars and attributed the effect to the hydrocarbons of combustion. He argued earlier than others for a link between smoking and cancer.
His 1930-1940 work received little attention outside Argentina; epidemiology (Müller 1939, Doll and Hill 1950) established causation in humans.
What it led to
- Recognition of tobacco as a combustion carcinogen
- Argentine oncological research at the Institute of Experimental Medicine