Comments on: MON: Dr. Wigand and The Solicitous Solicitor http://www.tobacco-on-trial.com/2005/01/31/dr-wigand-and-the-solicitous-solicitor/ Blogging U.S. vs. Philip Morris, Inc. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:27:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Dr Thomas Link http://www.tobacco-on-trial.com/2005/01/31/dr-wigand-and-the-solicitous-solicitor/#comment-116831 Dr Thomas Link Tue, 29 Jun 2010 04:33:41 +0000 http://www.tobacco-on-trial.com/2005/01/31/dr-wigand-and-the-solicitous-solicitor/#comment-116831 As noted above, coumarin is a sweat smelling common plant chemical. Dicumerol is made by fungi in spoiling sweat clover hay. It was isolated and characterized in Karl Paul Link's lab in Madison by 1939. Warfarin is a synthetic and closely related compound that was patented and promoted by Link and WARF (Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation) first as a rat poison and later as a human anticoagulant after being given to president Eisenhower in 1955. Warfarin (coumadin) is a much more effective anitcoagulant and is easier to administer and regulate and replaced dicumerol by the late l940's. Coumadin (warfarin) is still widely used today to kill rats and prolong human life. It decreases the amount of prothrombin available in the blood and hence reducing the risk of clot formation. When high does are eaten by rats it eventually causes internal hemorrhage and a peaceful death. Its effect is readily reversed by vitamin K, present in all chlorophyll containing (green) plants. To suggest coumarin is a rat poison is simply not true. As noted above, coumarin is a sweat smelling common plant chemical.
Dicumerol is made by fungi in spoiling sweat clover hay.
It was isolated and characterized in Karl Paul Link’s lab in Madison by 1939.
Warfarin is a synthetic and closely related compound that was patented
and promoted by Link and WARF (Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation) first
as a rat poison and later as a human anticoagulant after being given to president Eisenhower in 1955.
Warfarin (coumadin) is a much more effective anitcoagulant and is easier to administer and regulate and replaced dicumerol by the late l940’s. Coumadin (warfarin) is still widely used today to kill rats and prolong human life. It decreases the amount of prothrombin available in the blood and hence reducing the risk of clot formation. When high does are eaten by rats it eventually causes internal hemorrhage and a peaceful death. Its effect is readily reversed by vitamin K, present in all chlorophyll containing (green) plants.
To suggest coumarin is a rat poison is simply not true.

]]> By: tobacco observer http://www.tobacco-on-trial.com/2005/01/31/dr-wigand-and-the-solicitous-solicitor/#comment-228 tobacco observer Wed, 02 Feb 2005 23:16:27 +0000 http://www.tobacco-on-trial.com/2005/01/31/dr-wigand-and-the-solicitous-solicitor/#comment-228 Not to pick nits with Dr. Wigand, but Coumadin is the brand name for dicoumarol, aka Warfarin, which is commonly used as a blood thinner in human beings. High doses of this same agent can be used as rat poison. . .as can the sodium fluoride present in ordinary toothpaste. This whole "rat poison" thing is simply deliberately alarmist. Coumarins have the aroma of vanilla, and are found naturally in lavender plants, strawberries, sweet clover grass, licorice, cherries, and cinnamon. These compounds have been literally used for well over a century as flavoring and scent agents in a variety of products from food, to tobacco, to perfumes The amount used to scent tobacco is literally on the order of less than parts per million, meaning that to ingest a potentially harmful dose, a smoker would have to literally simultaneously smoke tens of thousands of cigarettes. If you are smoking those cigarettes, the LAST thing you have to worry about is sub-microscopic amounts of coumarin for scent! Not to pick nits with Dr. Wigand, but Coumadin is the brand name for dicoumarol, aka Warfarin, which is commonly used as a blood thinner in human beings. High doses of this same agent can be used as rat poison. . .as can the sodium fluoride present in ordinary toothpaste.

This whole “rat poison” thing is simply deliberately alarmist. Coumarins have the aroma of vanilla, and are found naturally in lavender plants, strawberries, sweet clover grass, licorice, cherries, and cinnamon. These compounds have been literally used for well over a century as flavoring and scent agents in a variety of products from food, to tobacco, to perfumes

The amount used to scent tobacco is literally on the order of less than parts per million, meaning that to ingest a potentially harmful dose, a smoker would have to literally simultaneously smoke tens of thousands of cigarettes. If you are smoking those cigarettes, the LAST thing you have to worry about is sub-microscopic amounts of coumarin for scent!

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