[Effect of smoking-machine parameters on the genetoxic activity of cigarette gas phase, estimated on human lymphocyte and yeast (author's transl)].

Cigarette smoke used in chemical research and bioassays is obtained by mechanical smoking on machines adjusted to international standards. On studying the behavior of some smokers of black tobacco, we were led to change the standard parameters: volume, duration, frequency. The gas phase obtained under those new conditions is poorer in some components. This decrease goes with a clear-cut decrease of its genotoxic activity towards cultured human lymphocytes (sister-chromatid exchange frequency) and S. cerevisiae (rate of mitotic recombinants and of respiratory deficients). This investigation emphasizes the leading part of the smoking behavior.