Abstract
Thinner sniffing was prevelent among High School Boys in Gunma Prefecture during 1968. Glue was used in some cases which contained a large amount of methyl alcohol and this appeared to be very hazardous to the optic nerves, lungs and bronchi.
This prevelence of boys sniffing thinner was discovered to be 3.0% by the determination of urinary hippuric acid, a toluene metabolite.
Epidemiology of thinner sniffing was the same as that of smoking, and the control of smoking would reveal the decrease of smoking as well as the decrease of thinner sniffing. The source of control should be at the Senior High School age level. One effective means of control was that parents be trustworthy and reliable in their actions. The daily lives and associated friendships of the children should be well supervised. Well informed teachers and participation in sports was found not to be helpful in exercising control in these fields.
