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Oct 8 03 6:46 PM
Focus on helping smoking- addicted teens quit Op/ed USA Today - October 8, 2003 By Patricia Pearson pearsonspost@sympatico.ca My grandfather, a gregarious, life-loving and witty man, died before I was born as a result of smoking two packs of Lucky cigarettes a day. By the time I was 17, there was nothing an anti-tobacco advertisement could have told me that I did not already know from that tragic family experience. Nevertheless, I already was smoking 20 cigarettes a day. As state legislatures across the USA slash their anti-tobacco-program funds in response to serious budget crunches, it is worth considering whether that automatically calls for protests from anti-smoking organizations, or whether it is an opportunity to reconsider how to direct resources more effectively into the teen smoking wars. An intriguing study out this month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine explains what I always suspected, that exhorting teens to "just say no" to cigarettes is most effective with that small group of kids who never try smoking. The reason surprise is that nicotine is powerfully addictive. To wit, the McGill University study reports that some adolescents show symptoms of addiction to nicotine after smoking only one or two cigarettes; in particular: physical cravings. That suggests that nicotine itself is a more decisive factor in teens starting to smoke regularly than the influence of their peers. "This is important news because it challenges the current idea that it takes kids two to three years of daily smoking to develop nicotine dependence," the study's author, Jennifer O'Loughlin, a researcher at McGill said at a Montreal news conference last month. Vast sums of money have been spent in the past 15 years on a strategy of either shaming or frightening teenagers out of smoking, while a minuscule fraction of that amount has been allocated to actually help them quit. That needs to change, given the addictive nature of tobacco. Oregon is the only state to provide comprehensive Medicaid insurance coverage for such essential smoking-cessation aids (news - web sites) as the anti-depressant Wellbutrin, the NicoDerm patch and addiction counseling. Yet, consider that last July the American Legacy Foundation reported that while 65% of female smokers between ages 16 and 24 wanted to quit, only 3% succeeded for a given year. The foundation was set up with money won by the 46 state attorneys general who sued the big tobacco companies in 1998. The suits resulted in a massive court settlement that was meant to be earmarked for tobacco programs. In fact, initially many of the states used their portions of the settlement funds to pay down budget deficits and upgrade government buildings, among other projects, according to a study by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some, however, poured cash into the coffers of ad agencies to design the anti-tobacco posters and TV and radio spots we've grown familiar with. The American Legacy Foundation continues to maintain that anti-tobacco advertising is an essential ingredient in persuading Americans to quit smoking or not start at all. To that end, the foundation alone has plowed upward of $60 million into such media campaigns. Likewise, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a national lobbying group based in Washington, adamantly insists that we keep beating the drums through advertising, community-awareness initiatives and in-school workshops. While some research has shown that these ads and other programs are effective in some states in reducing smoking or keeping people from starting at all, there are the hard-core smokers, including teens, who need more than what they're getting. Just look at the data. One in four students in 12th grade currently smoke cigarettes on at least a weekly basis in the United States, according to this year's annual Pride Survey, a Kentucky-based firm that tracks adolescent drug use. This notwithstanding years of anti-smoking censure. Indeed, the survey marks an increase in 12th-grade smoking rates since 1987, in terms of the number of kids who report having a cigarette "in the last year." How many of these students are going to drift into a daily habit by the time they enter college? The ones who grow addicted and have no access to Wellbutrin, nicotine-replacement therapy and addiction counseling. That's how many. It is this core group for whom ads, alone, cannot work. The one-in-four rate noted by the Pride Survey mirrors the number of people in the adult population who smoke regularly, and that percentage has remained rock steady since 1996, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) in Atlanta. Believe me, these hard-core adult and teen smokers get the point. You don't have to show them a diseased lung or someone on a ventilator 80 times in the hopes that the 81st time they will notice. I have needed no further evidence than my grandfather's cancer to understand that smoking is bad for one's health. In fact, I still smoke. What I could have used and what teenagers today can use is practical, hands-on help that extends well beyond the tepid, hopelessly ineffectual lists of "quitting tips" that pass nowadays for smoking-cessation programs. Put the money where the addiction is. Teenagers already know what happened to the Marlboro Man. They may not know that a combination of pharmaceuticals, NicoDerm and group therapy can give them a more positive fate. Patricia Pearson is a freelance writer and author living in Toronto. She's also a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20031008/cm_usatoday/11890430 Copyright © 2003 USA TODAY A wonderful article and one of the very times I've seen any journalist question funding priorities. Although Patricia clearly has not had an opportunity to study and explore the efficacy behind her NRT recommendations, she's far from alone in that regard. One thing I've come to recognize this past year is that the leadership at many national tobacco control organizations became involved as a result of anti-smoker crusades, as they battled for clean indoor air. To them smokers are the enemy. I belong to two other organizations where any mention of spending additional funds to help those addicted to nicotine reclaim their freedom is met with almost immediate protest. They don't have a problem with fighting to help save children from getting hooked but once addicted they seem to tend to blame the children for not listening to the health warnings. To spend money after the fact, to many of these well intended folks, is like giving aid and comfort to the enemy. It's in large part the same reason that lung cancer research gets so little attention and funding - they see it as our own fault for getting hooked in the first place and the natural price to be paid. We need more journalists like Patricia, willing to dig into the meat of the problem. If we continue to refuse to teach our children the truth about the power of nicotine then what moral standing do we have to intentionally deny them meaningful assistance once enslaved? John
Interact
Oct 23 03 4:09 PM
Nicotine addiction from cigarette smoking may begin in a few days By Dr. George Johnson - On Science Kids get addicted to cigarettes a lot quicker than we thought. Mayo Clinic researchers report this month that children who have smoked only a few cigarettes experience the same symptoms of nicotine addiction as adults who smoke heavily. The researchers followed more than 600 12- and 13-year-olds from seven schools in central Massachusetts for a four year period. Even kids who only smoked a few cigarettes a week became strongly addicted. "This is particularly disturbing," adds lead study author Dr. Joseph DiFranza, "given that each day, over 4,800 teens smoke their first cigarette. That's 1.7 million children annually." The chemical nature of nicotine addiction is a tragedy but not a mystery. Scientists understand nicotine addiction quite well. The key experiment that led to our understanding was a simple one: Investigators introduced radioactively-labelled nicotine into the brain and looked to see where it went. They found that individual nicotine molecules attached themselves to a previously unknown protein on the surface of brain nerve cells! These so-called "nicotine receptors" usually bind a natural brain chemical, acetylcholine. It was just an accident of nature that nicotine, an obscure chemical from a tobacco plant, was also able to bind to them. What then is the normal function of the nicotine receptors? Each activity in the brain involves constant communication between nerve cells. One nerve cell communicates with another by throwing a chemical at it. The target cells have on their surface receptor proteins, each with a shape that "fits" that chemical signal and no other. Like playing catch, communicating nerve cells lob these signal chemicals back and forth. Different brain cells carrying out different activities often use different chemical signals. The signals include chemicals such as acetylcholine, dopamine, serotonin, glutamate, glycine, and a host of others. With all this signalling going on, the brain cannot function effectively without a way to coordinate its many activities -- to adjust a particular activity "UP" or "DOWN" relative to others. The brain does this in a direct and logical way, by adjusting the sensitivities of each of its many different kinds of receptors to their chemical signals. The tool it uses to do this is a central coordinating receptor -- the very one to which nicotine binds. The role of this receptor is to "fine tune" the sensitivity of a wide variety of other brain receptors to their chemical signals, adjusting particular kinds of receptors up or down to slow some activities, speed others, and in this way to achieve overall coordination of the brain's activities. So how does nicotine cause chemical addiction? When neurobiologists compare the brain nerve cells of smokers to those of nonsmokers, they find that nicotine binds this coordinating receptor, stimulating it. By overriding the normal system used by the brain to coordinate its many activities, nicotine alters the pattern of release by nerve cells of many neurotransmitters, including acetylcholine, dopamine, serotonin, and many others -- like turning up the setting on a TV remote that controls many television sets. As a result, changes in level of activity occur in a wide variety of nerve pathways within the brain. These changes are responsible for the profound effect smoking has on the brain's activities. Addiction occurs because the nervous system responds piecemeal to nicotine's fiddling with its central control. The brain attempts to "turn the volume back down" by readjusting the sensitivities of each kind of receptor individually, eventually restoring an appropriate balance of activity. Unfortunately, in many children these readjustments apparently occur after only a few cigarettes. Now what happens if you stop smoking? Everything is out of whack! The newly coordinated system requires nicotine to achieve an appropriate balance of nerve pathway activities. You are addicted to nicotine. So what do you do, if you are addicted to smoking cigarettes and you want to stop? The CDC reported in July that 8 million people tried to quit smoking in 1998, the latest data available. About half the people attempting to quit smoking use patches containing nicotine to help them, and another quarter chew nicotine gum. Providing nicotine removes the craving for cigarettes -- so long as you keep using the patch or gum. Actually, using nicotine patches or gum simply substitutes one (admittedly less dangerous) nicotine source for another. You are still addicted. If you are going to quit smoking, there is no way to avoid the necessity of eliminating the drug to which you are addicted, nicotine. Hard as it is to hear the bad news, there is no easy way out. The only way to quit is to quit. Every teen should consider carefully the take-home lesson, which is that addiction to nicotine is not a matter of will power, but chemistry. "These kids will take about 20 years on average to break this addiction," DiFranza warns. How much easier not to smoke the first cigarette. © Txtwriter Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.txtwriter.com/Onscience/Articles/addictingkids.html Although I think Dr. Johnson's data may have been a bit off in estimating of those using gradual nicotine weaning devices he's cleary on the mark in pointing out that in the end all successful quitters there's only one way to break free and that's by "eliminating the drug to which you are addicted, nicotine." Dr. Johnson's article also provides an interesting explanation of what addiction to nicotine really means. Recent studies are moving beyond explaining nicotine dependency in terms of just dopamine manipulation and are studying a host of our brain neurotransmitters and neurochemicals that this amazing substance appears to have the ability to manipulate. Nicotine dependency recovery truly is an amazing discovery adventure in just how deeply nicotine impacted not only our health and physicial abilities but the well-being of our minds. This journey leads to a well earned rest after years of endless chemical cycling. It leads to simple recognitions such as appreciating that nicotine is no longer feeding us via adrenaline induced releases of stored fats and sugars and that we might just need to learn to eat like normal folks again - including adding natural fruits like bananas and apples back into our diet, and even some dairy products, as they wonderful natural sources of basic nutrients which are key to the creation of many important neurochemicals. Let the healing continue! Just one rule, no nicotine today. John
Although I think Dr. Johnson's data may have been a bit off in estimating of those using gradual nicotine weaning devices he's cleary on the mark in pointing out that in the end all successful quitters there's only one way to break free and that's by "eliminating the drug to which you are addicted, nicotine."
Dr. Johnson's article also provides an interesting explanation of what addiction to nicotine really means. Recent studies are moving beyond explaining nicotine dependency in terms of just dopamine manipulation and are studying a host of our brain neurotransmitters and neurochemicals that this amazing substance appears to have the ability to manipulate.
Nicotine dependency recovery truly is an amazing discovery adventure in just how deeply nicotine impacted not only our health and physicial abilities but the well-being of our minds.
This journey leads to a well earned rest after years of endless chemical cycling. It leads to simple recognitions such as appreciating that nicotine is no longer feeding us via adrenaline induced releases of stored fats and sugars and that we might just need to learn to eat like normal folks again - including adding natural fruits like bananas and apples back into our diet, and even some dairy products, as they wonderful natural sources of basic nutrients which are key to the creation of many important neurochemicals.
Let the healing continue! Just one rule, no nicotine today. John
Nov 16 03 8:27 PM
There is a post I just put into the thread Why I don't speak at more sites on how to help people quit smoking that seems to make bringing up this thread appropriate.
Nov 28 03 6:10 PM
Dec 11 03 10:08 PM
Jan 17 04 5:58 PM
Jan 17 04 11:24 PM
Jan 17 04 11:52 PM
Jan 18 04 12:03 AM
Feb 12 04 11:07 PM
Feb 18 04 6:38 AM
Light-up time leaves some Italians fuming By Suzanne Bush SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES January 19, 2004 CAPENA, Italy - Yesterday was light-up time in Capena, a medieval town where everybody smokes on St. Anthony's Day. Nobody remembers why, but nearly everybody does it - even children as young as 2 years old. For years, the event has gone unnoticed by public-health advocates, who just this month succeeded in getting the Italian government to order bars and restaurants to ban smoking or to allow it only in well-ventilated smoking areas. nbsp; Hundreds gathered under gray skies to light cigarettes from the trunk of an olive tree set ablaze in the town square. One mother, who gave her name only as Rosalba, said she has been participating in the festival for 11 years and has taken photos of her children posing with cigarettes since they were 1. Her eldest, Giulia, is 9. "They don't smoke properly," Rosalba said, chuckling. "Then again, Giulia did just try inhaling and started choking. ... It's a lovely thing. I'm not worried about them taking up smoking. It's only for one day, and they know it's bad for them." Rosalba's friend, Katia, encouraged her son, Augustino, to take his first puff, but the 2-year-old seemed unenthusiastic. Although the youngest children were accompanied by parents, many older children smoked all day without supervision. "I like smoking," said 10-year-old Tancredi. "I help out with Mass, then I come here, and my parents think it's OK because it's only one day a year." The festival of St. Anthony usually is celebrated across Italy with the traditional blessing of animals to bring prosperity in the year ahead. Capena's unusual custom began centuries ago with the smoking of rosemary. Some remain faithful to that habit, but the majority now opt for cigarettes instead. The tradition is awkward for Mayor Riccardo Benigni, who also is the town doctor. "It's not a good thing. This I can say as a doctor and a nonsmoker. It's not that I like this new tradition. Of course, it's not a good example for anyone, but the origins were completely different." Mr. Benigni says he has tried to discourage children from taking part and, for the first time this year, there was a sign suggesting parents give their children sweets instead. But only a few of the smaller children chose candy cigarettes over the coffin nails. Raffaele Luise of the Italian Cancer League was appalled by the practice. "I'm convinced that when children associate the souvenir of their first cigarette with having fun in a happy situation with the whole village and all their mates, these memories can lead a kid to repeat that behavior." Most Italian adults seem oblivious to the effects of smoking on their children. Despite a 30-year-old ban, it's not unusual to see Italians smoking in schools and hospitals. Copyright © 2004 News World Communications, Inc. http://www.washtimes.com/world/20040119-121424-3714r.htm Thanks to Jill for bringing this story to our attention
Light-up time leaves some Italians fuming By Suzanne Bush SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 19, 2004
CAPENA, Italy - Yesterday was light-up time in Capena, a medieval town where everybody smokes on St. Anthony's Day. Nobody remembers why, but nearly everybody does it - even children as young as 2 years old.
For years, the event has gone unnoticed by public-health advocates, who just this month succeeded in getting the Italian government to order bars and restaurants to ban smoking or to allow it only in well-ventilated smoking areas.
nbsp; Hundreds gathered under gray skies to light cigarettes from the trunk of an olive tree set ablaze in the town square.
One mother, who gave her name only as Rosalba, said she has been participating in the festival for 11 years and has taken photos of her children posing with cigarettes since they were 1. Her eldest, Giulia, is 9.
"They don't smoke properly," Rosalba said, chuckling. "Then again, Giulia did just try inhaling and started choking. ... It's a lovely thing. I'm not worried about them taking up smoking. It's only for one day, and they know it's bad for them."
Rosalba's friend, Katia, encouraged her son, Augustino, to take his first puff, but the 2-year-old seemed unenthusiastic.
Although the youngest children were accompanied by parents, many older children smoked all day without supervision.
"I like smoking," said 10-year-old Tancredi. "I help out with Mass, then I come here, and my parents think it's OK because it's only one day a year."
The festival of St. Anthony usually is celebrated across Italy with the traditional blessing of animals to bring prosperity in the year ahead. Capena's unusual custom began centuries ago with the smoking of rosemary.
Some remain faithful to that habit, but the majority now opt for cigarettes instead.
The tradition is awkward for Mayor Riccardo Benigni, who also is the town doctor.
"It's not a good thing. This I can say as a doctor and a nonsmoker. It's not that I like this new tradition. Of course, it's not a good example for anyone, but the origins were completely different."
Mr. Benigni says he has tried to discourage children from taking part and, for the first time this year, there was a sign suggesting parents give their children sweets instead. But only a few of the smaller children chose candy cigarettes over the coffin nails.
Raffaele Luise of the Italian Cancer League was appalled by the practice.
"I'm convinced that when children associate the souvenir of their first cigarette with having fun in a happy situation with the whole village and all their mates, these memories can lead a kid to repeat that behavior."
Most Italian adults seem oblivious to the effects of smoking on their children. Despite a 30-year-old ban, it's not unusual to see Italians smoking in schools and hospitals.
Copyright © 2004 News World Communications, Inc.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20040119-121424-3714r.htm
Thanks to Jill for bringing this story to our attention
Feb 18 04 6:11 PM
Mar 2 04 6:17 PM
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. 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 Copyright © The Sacramento Bee About the Writer The Bee's Bill Lindelof can be reached at (916) 321-1079 or blindelof@sacbee.com.
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.
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
Copyright © The Sacramento Bee
Apr 5 04 1:35 AM
MUNCIE - Former Philip Morris researcher Victor DeNoble did more than tell Muncie and Delaware County middle school students about the dangers of smoking. On Friday, he showed them. DeNoble spoke to students at Delta, Wilson and Daleville middle schools about the dangerous effects of nicotine on the body, using facts from his research as a scientist to get his point across. "For nicotine to go from the lung to the heart to the brain, it takes less than seven seconds," DeNoble said to the students. He told the kids about his work in the early 1980s as a researcher for the nation's largest cigarette manufacturer, describing tests he performed on rats and monkeys that proved nicotine was an addictive drug that could alter the brain. Talking about his test monkey, Sarah, DeNoble said he tested brain cells from deep within her brain following her death to find that nicotine had chemically altered her brain cells. "Wanna see it?" he asked the crowd as he pulled the monkey's brain from a container. The move was met by a "whoa" that echoed across the auditorium as students scrambled to get a closer look. DeNoble said he told executives numerous times about his experiments before he was fired for his controversial research in 1984. A contract he signed with the company prevented him from testifying about his findings until 1994, when seven of the top tobacco industry executives testified before Congress about the addictive drug that led to a $710 billion lawsuit against Philip Morris. He finished his talk by telling students they were still young enough and smart enough not to start smoking. "You have to accept the responsibility of making that choice and of who you want to be," he said. http://www.thestarpress.com/articles/7/017241-6297-004.html Copyright 2004 The Star Press
MUNCIE - Former Philip Morris researcher Victor DeNoble did more than tell Muncie and Delaware County middle school students about the dangers of smoking.
On Friday, he showed them.
DeNoble spoke to students at Delta, Wilson and Daleville middle schools about the dangerous effects of nicotine on the body, using facts from his research as a scientist to get his point across.
"For nicotine to go from the lung to the heart to the brain, it takes less than seven seconds," DeNoble said to the students.
He told the kids about his work in the early 1980s as a researcher for the nation's largest cigarette manufacturer, describing tests he performed on rats and monkeys that proved nicotine was an addictive drug that could alter the brain.
Talking about his test monkey, Sarah, DeNoble said he tested brain cells from deep within her brain following her death to find that nicotine had chemically altered her brain cells.
"Wanna see it?" he asked the crowd as he pulled the monkey's brain from a container.
The move was met by a "whoa" that echoed across the auditorium as students scrambled to get a closer look.
DeNoble said he told executives numerous times about his experiments before he was fired for his controversial research in 1984.
A contract he signed with the company prevented him from testifying about his findings until 1994, when seven of the top tobacco industry executives testified before Congress about the addictive drug that led to a $710 billion lawsuit against Philip Morris.
He finished his talk by telling students they were still young enough and smart enough not to start smoking.
"You have to accept the responsibility of making that choice and of who you want to be," he said.
http://www.thestarpress.com/articles/7/017241-6297-004.html
Copyright 2004 The Star Press
Apr 21 04 5:36 PM
Every month I do a single session seminar at a local health department which is set up for kids who are caught smoking and sentenced by the local court system. More often than not the kids who are sentenced in come to the program seeing it as a punishment and what will likely be a waste of time--another effort by another adult trying to infringe on their freedom of choice to smoke. While this may be the attitude of most of the kids, there are a few who leave the session recognizing that the session was valuable and are in fact grateful that they had the chance to learn about smoking and quitting.
Yesterday's session had two kids sentenced to the program--a fourteen year old boy and a fourteen year old girl. The girl came in with the same attitude as most. She wasn't ever going to be addicted because she doesn't smoke much and besides, she didn't see cigarettes as being that dangerous anyway. I suspect by the time she left she may have at least recognized the dangers really posed by smoking, although I couldn't tell if she really understood or believed the addictive power of nicotine.
The boy was another story. He already understood the addiction--better than most his age. The reason he understood it is because he was already smoking over two packs per day and has tried to quit countless times. He was happy he was sentenced to the program and said he would have come in even if he was not forced to if he had known it existed as an option.
I have high hopes for this boy--you could already see that smoking was physically limiting his endurance and was controlling him in numerous ways. It is tragic enough when you see adults under this kind of grip but to see a fourteen year old who cannot really meet the physical and social demands of adolescence because of smoking is indeed a sad thing to witness.
We also had six adults come to the session. Two had quit within the last few weeks and four others were coming in to learn how to quit now. I really didn't have as much time as I would have liked to deal with the adult quitting issues and hope that they find their way here to Freedom to read and learn materials that I could not get covered.
Bill should get a kick out of this. One of the men who had quit over two weeks ago came in with a printed out version of our Never Take Another Puff pdf book. He brought it in so that I could autograph it. This was a first time request--I found it very entertaining.
I am going to kick up a few posts today addressing things that I could not get covered yesterday in the event any of the participants come here to read. The bottom line message I would give to them is the same message that I give to all who read here too, that quitting smoking is fully within any person's capability and the way to stay free once you have quit is simply to stick to the commitment you made the day you decided to never take another puff!
Joel
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Exploring children's conceptions of smoking addiction Health Educ Res. 2004 June 15 [Epub ahead of print] Wang C, Henley N, Donovan RJ. School of Marketing, Tourism.eisure, Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA 6027, Australia. Tobacco addiction is a major health problem for both adults and young people--between 20 and 60% of adolescents are dependent on nicotine and more than two-thirds who attempt to quit experience withdrawal symptoms. Yet, anti-smoking efforts targeted at children emphasize primary prevention and ignore addiction education, which is generally considered relevant only to adult smoking and cessation efforts. This study reports children's concepts of smoking and addiction from interviews with 32 Western Australian boys and girls, aged 9-10 years, all non-smokers. Results suggest children's concepts of smoking addiction may influence attitudes toward smoking trials. Children who thought addiction happened immediately were committed to never smoke at all. Others who thought addiction happened after several cigarettes expressed intentions to experiment. These children believed they could avoid addiction by smoking less than the number of cigarettes that caused addiction. Children who defined addiction as 'liking' or 'enjoying the taste of cigarettes' believed they could avoid being 'hooked' as long as they managed to avoid enjoying the experience. Recent findings that children can get 'hooked' within a few days of smoking highlight the importance of addiction strategies targeted at children, particularly in relation to influencing intentions to experiment with smoking. PMID: 15199004 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15199004
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