A recent ad campaign suggesting people who resolve to give up smoking in the new year try a smokeless product instead has drawn criticism from anti-tobacco advocates.
"This has been going on for a long time, but we're seeing more of it now because of the smoke-free laws," said Stephanie Davis, director of the Washington County Tobacco Prevention Project.
The campaign in question is the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s first effort aimed at getting smokers to switch to Camel Snus, introduced in early 2009. Users stick the small, tobacco-filled pouches between their cheek and gum. Some versions of the product have about 8 milligrams of nicotine per pouch, the same approximate amount as in an average cigarette, according to data from www.smoking-cessation.org and TobaccoProducts.org.
The ads appeared recently in wide-circulation magazines like Time, Sports Illustrated and People, as well as in some alternative weekly newspapers around the country. They suggest, but don't say directly, that the pouches are a way to help kick the smoking habit.
"If you've decided to quit tobacco use, we support you. But if you're looking for smoke-free, spit-free, drama-free tobacco pleasure, Camel Snus is your answer. Logon to the Pleasure Switch Challenge and see how simple switching can be. Camel Snus - it might just change the way you enjoy tobacco," one ad says.
"At this time, there will some that will be considering the option to maybe quit smoking, but not necessarily quit enjoying tobacco pleasure," R.J. Reynolds spokesman David Howard said. "We want to inform them that here is a product that is an option for you to consider."
Under federal law, companies cannot claim that tobacco products work as smoking cessation products. All the ads also warn: "Smokeless tobacco is addictive."
The Food And Drug Administration, which regulates tobacco advertising, is reviewing the Reynolds ad campaign.
Anti-tobacco campaigners say the Reynolds ads aim to reorient smokers to smokeless snus to keep them from being lost as potential customers.
"R.J. Reynolds and all the tobacco companies poured tons of money into (Ohio), especially for smokeless tobacco," Davis said, noting the state's 2006 voter-approved ban on smoking in public places.
Davis said smokeless tobacco is not a safe alternative to smoking, but she understands why people may think of it that way. For one thing, it's not being inhaled, so smoke isn't getting in a person's lungs.
But Davis said smoking and chewing are more similar than most people realize.
"When you smoke, the majority of the nicotine is absorbed through your mouth," she said.
Switching from smoking to chewing can also be problematic, Davis said, because smokeless tobacco products can actually have more nicotine than cigarettes. While Camel Snus appears to be comparable in that regard, a can of traditional smokeless tobacco can have three times as much nicotine in it as a pack of cigarettes, Davis said. Smokers who switch to smokeless can actually feel sick because of the higher nicotine level, she said.
Besides nicotine and, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28 cancer-causing agents, smokeless tobacco can have other ingredients that negatively impact a person's health.
"We see a lot of people that have diabetes or high blood pressure that use smokeless tobacco, and the number one (non-carcinogenic) ingredient is molasses and the number two is sodium," Davis said.
At camelsnus.com, the company touts snus' lower sodium content, which makes the product "spit-free," cutting down on an unpopular aspect of smokeless products.
Some experts do see advantages to smokeless tobacco over cigarettes. A 2007 report from the United Kingdom's Royal College of Physicians argues some smokeless tobacco products are less harmful than cigarettes, at least from the perspective of secondhand smoke.
"Since tobacco smoking is driven primarily by addiction to nicotine, but the harm from smoking is caused by other smoke constituents, the rational next-best option is to reduce the harm arising from nicotine use by providing it in a form that does not involve inhaling smoke," the report said.
Davis doesn't recommend using smokeless tobacco as a means to quit smoking.
"I don't want to discourage anyone that wants to quit. I would want to encourage them (to try) a better method," she said.
The local tobacco prevention program's classes on quitting are offered to smokers and chewers alike.
More information about the program is available by calling 374-2229.
About 46 million American adults, or one in five, still smoke and about the same number are former smokers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's down from one out of four Americans who smoked in 1995.
About 3 percent of American adults use smokeless tobacco, although Davis said usage rates tend to be higher in this region.
вторник, 4 января 2011 г.
How anti-smoking drugs may curb cravings
"Environmental cues associated with nicotine reinforcement induce cigarette craving, which propagates smoking habits in smokers and relapse in abstinent individuals," the authors wrote in one of the articles.
Bupropion, originally marketed as an antidepressant, is prescribed around the world to help people resist smoking cues. But the mechanism for doing so has not been clear.
In one study, Christopher S. Culbertson of the University of California, Los Angeles and his team measured the changes in the brain activity of 30 smokers who were randomly told to take either bupropion or a placebo for a period of eight weeks.
Within a week of joining the study and again after it ended, the participants underwent brain scans. During both the scans, they were shown 45-second videos of actors smoking in various settings as well as clips in which no one was smoking.
They were asked to press buttons on a box indicating how strongly they craved cigarettes immediately after watching each video.
The smokers who took bupriopion said they craved cigarettes less even while watching others smoking than those who took the placebo. Those on the drug also showed a decrease in the activation of areas of the brain responsible for cravings.
"These results demonstrate that treatment with bupropion is associated with an improved ability to resist cue-induced craving and a reduction in cue-induced activation of limbic and prefrontal brain regions," the researchers concluded.
In a second study, Teresa Franklin of the University of Pennsylvania and her team looked at how the brain reacted to varenicline, which reduces the symptoms of withdrawal and reinforcement smokers get from nicotine.
In a second study, Teresa Franklin of the University of Pennsylvania and her team used brain scans to study how the brains of 22 smokers reacted when they took the drug varenicline or a placebo during a three-week randomized trial.
The participants also watched 10-minute videos, with either non-smoking or smoking cues, and had to report on the levels of their cravings.
The findings were similar to those of the other study. Smoking cues activated regions of the brain linked to drug motivation and triggered craving feelings. But those who took the drug reported reduced cravings and showed a reduction in brain activity in those areas, said the researchers.
"The results of our study reveal a distinctive new action that likely contributes to its clinical efficacy," they concluded.
"Unsuccessful smoking cessation is more prevalent in individuals with psychiatric illness, suggesting that they have greater difficulty quitting. Varenicline and other medications that can reduce both withdrawal and cue reactivity may be of special benefit to these subgroups who may also be more vulnerable to relapse in the presence of smoking cues," they said.
Bupropion, originally marketed as an antidepressant, is prescribed around the world to help people resist smoking cues. But the mechanism for doing so has not been clear.
In one study, Christopher S. Culbertson of the University of California, Los Angeles and his team measured the changes in the brain activity of 30 smokers who were randomly told to take either bupropion or a placebo for a period of eight weeks.
Within a week of joining the study and again after it ended, the participants underwent brain scans. During both the scans, they were shown 45-second videos of actors smoking in various settings as well as clips in which no one was smoking.
They were asked to press buttons on a box indicating how strongly they craved cigarettes immediately after watching each video.
The smokers who took bupriopion said they craved cigarettes less even while watching others smoking than those who took the placebo. Those on the drug also showed a decrease in the activation of areas of the brain responsible for cravings.
"These results demonstrate that treatment with bupropion is associated with an improved ability to resist cue-induced craving and a reduction in cue-induced activation of limbic and prefrontal brain regions," the researchers concluded.
In a second study, Teresa Franklin of the University of Pennsylvania and her team looked at how the brain reacted to varenicline, which reduces the symptoms of withdrawal and reinforcement smokers get from nicotine.
In a second study, Teresa Franklin of the University of Pennsylvania and her team used brain scans to study how the brains of 22 smokers reacted when they took the drug varenicline or a placebo during a three-week randomized trial.
The participants also watched 10-minute videos, with either non-smoking or smoking cues, and had to report on the levels of their cravings.
The findings were similar to those of the other study. Smoking cues activated regions of the brain linked to drug motivation and triggered craving feelings. But those who took the drug reported reduced cravings and showed a reduction in brain activity in those areas, said the researchers.
"The results of our study reveal a distinctive new action that likely contributes to its clinical efficacy," they concluded.
"Unsuccessful smoking cessation is more prevalent in individuals with psychiatric illness, suggesting that they have greater difficulty quitting. Varenicline and other medications that can reduce both withdrawal and cue reactivity may be of special benefit to these subgroups who may also be more vulnerable to relapse in the presence of smoking cues," they said.
Even One Cigarette Can Prove Lethal, U.S. Surgeon General Says
As little as one cigarette a day, or even just inhaling smoke from someone else's cigarette, could be enough to cause a heart attack and even death, warns a report released Thursday by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina M. Benjamin.
"The chemicals in tobacco smoke reach your lungs quickly every time you inhale, causing damage immediately," Benjamin said in a statement. "Inhaling even the smallest amount of tobacco smoke can also damage your DNA, which can lead to cancer."
And the more you're exposed, the harder it is for your body to repair the damage.
Smoking also weakens the immune system and makes it harder for the body to respond to treatment if a smoking-linked cancer does arise.
"It's a really good thing when the Surgeon General comes out and gives a wide scope to the dangers of smoking," said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "They're looking at very small amounts of smoke and this is dramatic. It's showing the effect is immediate and doesn't take very much concentration. In other words, there's no safe level of smoking. It's a zero-tolerance issue."
A Report of the Surgeon General: How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease - The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease, is the first tobacco report from Surgeon General Benjamin and the 30th since the landmark 1964 Surgeon General's report that first linked smoking to lung cancer.
More so than previous reports, this one focused on specific pathways by which smoking does its damage.
Some 70 of the 7,000 chemicals and compounds in cigarettes can cause cancer, while hundreds of the others are toxic, inflaming the lining of the airways and potentially leading to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a major killer in the United States. The chemicals also corrode blood vessels and increase the likelihood of blood clots, upping the risk for heart conditions.
Smokers to cough up more for cigarettes in New Year
The cost of cigarettes has gone up by one kuna (0.14 Euros).
Six brands from tobacco company TDR increased their prices on January 1 as a consequence of increased excise duties levied in October.
The company said that while it had maintained the prices of its products for two months, it was no longer able to do so.
In an anticipation of the price increases, TDR's CEO Davor Tomaskovic said last summer that the new excise duty increases will benefit neither the consumers nor the state. The changes would bring a decrease in revenue for the producers with consequences for the state budget. This would also contribute to a strengthening of the climate conducive to un-taxed (illegal) consumption, he warned.
Croatians smoke 484 million packets of cigarettes per year, or 9,700 cigarettes per smoker. If black market sales are added to official figures, the total numbers would double, the daily Jutarnji List writes.
Six brands from tobacco company TDR increased their prices on January 1 as a consequence of increased excise duties levied in October.
The company said that while it had maintained the prices of its products for two months, it was no longer able to do so.
In an anticipation of the price increases, TDR's CEO Davor Tomaskovic said last summer that the new excise duty increases will benefit neither the consumers nor the state. The changes would bring a decrease in revenue for the producers with consequences for the state budget. This would also contribute to a strengthening of the climate conducive to un-taxed (illegal) consumption, he warned.
Croatians smoke 484 million packets of cigarettes per year, or 9,700 cigarettes per smoker. If black market sales are added to official figures, the total numbers would double, the daily Jutarnji List writes.
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