The Exposure Assessment (EA) Committee met for the second time on September 22-23rd in Bethesda. Members of the EA Committee in attendance were Richard Dalby, Ph.D., Karl Fagerström, Ph.D., Jerold Last, Ph.D., Robert Orth, Ph.D., Glenn Talaska, Ph.D., and William Waddell, M.D. Louis Homer, M.D., Ph.D. and Elizabeth Anderson, Ph.D., members of the Core Committee, were also present. LSRO staff members Michael Falk, Ph.D., Kara Lewis, Ph.D., Catherine St. Hilaire, Ph.D., Daniel Byrd, Ph.D., Karin French, B.A., and Carmen Mones, B.A. attended the meeting and Amy Brownawell, Ph.D., was present for a brief portion of the meeting. Klaus Brunnemann, Ph.D., (New York Medical College), Joshua Muscat, Ph.D., (Penn State University) and Glenn Talaska, Ph.D., (University of Cincinnati and EA Committee) made presentations during the information gathering portion of the meeting. Mike Borgerding, Ph.D., Mike Ogden, Ph.D., and John Robinson, Ph.D., from RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company attended a portion of the information gathering session and made presentations to the Committee during the Executive Session on the first day of the meeting. Maria Varga, M.D. (Star Scientific) also attended the information gathering session.

The primary goals of the meeting were to evaluate biomarkers of tobacco product and tobacco smoke exposure as to their usefulness as components of a comparative risk-reduction assessment framework and to discuss considerations for conducting clinical studies of potential reduced-risk tobacco products. Other meeting objectives included evaluating smoking topography and filter analysis as components of a risk reduction assessment framework.

Dr. Brunnemann made a presentation about smokeless tobacco chemistry and exposure.

Dr. Muscat presented on cigarette smoke yields and carcinogen and oxidative stress biomarkers.

Dr. Talaska made a presentation on carcinogen-DNA adducts in exfoliated urothelial cells of wives of smokers.

The third meeting of the EA committee will take place December 13-14th, 2005 on the FASEB campus, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD and will focus on environmental tobacco smoke exposure assessment. An information-gathering session that is open to the public will take place on the morning of December 13th.