Middle schoolers see:
This is your brain on nicotine

By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Tuesday, March 2, 2004


For about 45 minutes, tobacco industry whistle-blower Victor DeNoble on Monday held his audience in rapt attention.

Three hundred or so eighth-graders crowded onto bleachers to hear a story of how DeNoble helped develop a "safer" cigarette.

Quietly and politely, the Rio Linda Junior High School students listened to the research scientist.

Then he brought out the monkey brain.

And after that a human brain - to a decidedly mixed reaction. image

Small screams of horror erupted as DeNoble shook solution from the dripping brain of a cadaver. One boy stood and thrust his fist into the air. Some girls hid their faces. Others leaned forward to get a better look.

"It was gross," said 13-year-old Temre Barrett.

DeNoble is presenting his talk, "Inside the Dark Side," at 25 assemblies in 13 schools throughout the Sacramento area this week and next.

He used the props because they were examples of how nicotine had altered the brains. The monkey brain came from a nicotine-addicted lab monkey and the human brain from a longtime smoker.

"Nicotine goes from your lungs, to your heart, to your brain in seven seconds," he told the students.

His appearance was sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. The medical group's "Don't Buy the Lie" anti-smoking campaign dovetails with DeNoble's life story as a key witness in government hearings into the tobacco industry.

DeNoble, a former research scientist for Philip Morris, testified before Congress in 1994. His testimony was part of the evidence that led to a multibillion-dollar settlement.

DeNoble, an experimental psychologist, and his colleague worked in a secret laboratory in Virginia from 1980 to 1984. They experimented on rats to find out how nicotine affected the brain.

Their work led to a chemical that had the same effect as nicotine on the brain without causing heart problems.

But the company shut down the lab. DeNoble and his colleague were fired, he said, and he was prevented from releasing any information because he had signed a confidentiality agreement.

DeNoble said the tobacco company knew nicotine was addictive and that it was his job to find a way to keep smokers addicted but without heart problems.

After decades of denying that nicotine was addictive, Philip Morris didn't want to expose itself to lawsuits, he said.

The day he was fired, DeNoble took with him the nicotine research documents. However, most of those documents later would be stolen.

His wife, however, had retained some of the documents - which he later leaked to the FBI. DeNoble was released from his secrecy agreement with tobacco companies to testify before Congress in 1994.

He also testified before the Food and Drug Administration in 1995 and 1996 and former Vice President Al Gore's Tobacco Settlement Committee in 1997.

DeNoble is a "strong kick-off for the 'Don't Buy the Lie' anti-tobacco program," said Cathy Edwards, a Kaiser Permanente health educator.

The free program includes an anti-smoking billboard-design contest and materials used in more than 50 Sacramento and Placer county middle schools.

Diana Elmer, the Grant district's substance abuse prevention specialist, said there is a great need at the middle school level for more tobacco use prevention.

DeNoble tells his story without the usual "just say no" admonition. He ends with the words "take personal responsibility for your actions" and "please make good decisions."

His delivery is devoid of browbeating. Dr. Rick Baker, chief of Kaiser's health education, has seen DeNoble speak several times.

"What I like about his talks - besides the story about the cigarettes and the "don't buy the lie" message - is that he tries to tell students how to make the right decision," Baker said. "He doesn't tell them what the right decision is. He doesn't tell them, 'Don't smoke.' They can make a decision based on the facts he presents."

Eighth-grader Barrett also thought "it was pretty cool" that DeNoble let her decide that she will never smoke a cigarette.

"Mostly when people talk to us about that stuff, they lecture us and say, 'Don't smoke, don't smoke,' " she said. "I don't think I would even try it. It's pretty nasty."

Link to story:

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/8387040p-9316734c.html

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About the Writer

The Bee's Bill Lindelof can be reached at (916) 321-1079 or blindelof@sacbee.com.