Now if only they would repeat the study, using e-cigarettes

[Vocalek]

Tobacco Truth: American Evidence that Snus Is An Effective Substitute

Continuous abstinence rates over the 4 treatment weeks varied from 33% (Taboka) to 43% (Camel Snus). Two weeks after the treatment ended, 39% of the Taboka group, 47% of the Camel Snus group and 56% of the nicotine group were not smoking, but these percentages dropped to 23%, 31% and 33% respectively after ten weeks of complete abstinence.

 

[Nagios]

Awesome find, thanks for sharing!

 

[kristin]

I wonder why the nicotine gum/lozenge group had higher quit rates? That's surprising. Maybe because people are more used to gums and lozenges in general? I wonder if using milder, better-tasting Swedish snus would have changed those numbers.

 

[Bill Godshall]

kristin inquired:
"I wonder why the nicotine gum/lozenge group had higher quit rates?"

Several likely answers include:

For more than a decade, this same group of researchers in MN have been intentionally exaggerating the health risks of smokeless tobacco products (to confuse the public, smokers and likely their research subjects to inaccurately believe that smokeless tobacco products are just as or more hazardous than cigarettes, and are UNSAFE alternatives).

About 85% of the public (including smokers) inaccurately believe that smokeless tobacco is just as or more hazardous than cigarettes.

Altria's Taboka contained virtually no nicotine and nobody liked it, which is why Altria pulled the product from the market after about six months of test marketing. Altria has subsequently introduced Marlboro Snus, which is a dry snus (unlike most other snus products) that appears to be almost as unpopular as was Toboka.

Eissenberg previously found http://static.mgnetwork.com/rtd/pdfs/20090712_toba.pdf
that Camel Snus emitted similar levels of nicotine as 2mg Commit lozenge, and this new study used 4mg nicotine gums and lozenges.

 

[kristin]

Thanks, Bill, that also confirms my suspicions as to why they also waited 3-4 years to publish the study. (It was actually done in 2006-2007)

 

[rothenbj]

I concur with Bill's assessment. I posted-

"It's really a shame that they had to use SNUS rather than Swedish snus. There certainly is a difference in the quality and taste as well as higher nicotine levels for those that need the nicotine. I'm not surprised that the Marlboro product was the weakest since the product is probably the worst on the market in that category.

I am surprised that the nic gum did better than Camel however. I tried nic gum on several quit attempts and it never came close to being satisfying. Camel, on the other hand, got me completely off cigarettes from the first portion I tried. A warning should be made that I don't believe I am as addicted to nicotine as the other tobacco alkaloids which might explain why, for me, Camel worked so much better than nic gum.

I agree with the previous two posts as far as the need to stop worrying about weaning people off nicotine. Why these health world won't accept that the vast majority of danger gets removed when combustion ceases, we have the ability to improve overall health.

OT It should be noted that there has been an interesting study done in India about COPD where they studied those developing COPD health issues. I think 7% if those developing it were smokers and 93% weren't, but they narrowed the risk down to biomass energy usage.

That fireplace that the non-smokers feel so cozy with may just be more harmful than smoking. "

 

[rothenbj]

For anyone interested, here are the links to the COPD study

Indoor air pollution behind COPD, not smoking: study

http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report_never-smokers-more-vulnerable-to-copd_1467854

In India alone, 75% of the homes use biomass fuel, exposing over 700 million people to high levels of indoor air pollution. Women and young children are the most vulnerable lot that are
affected due to this exposure.

“A woman living in a rural home in India spends an average 60,000 hours in cooking during her lifetime. In this process she inhales a 25 million litres of polluted air that increase the chances of developing COPD,” said Salvi.

He said tobacco smoking is the second biggest cause of COPD in India. Other causes include poorly treated chronic asthma, certain occupations like building and construction, mining, sand blasting, leather industry and farming, and recurrent lung infections and poor nourishment during childhood.

The one article said 5.5m die in India from COPD. wow

Ipicked this up from another link, "In India the principal biomass fuels are wood, crop residues and dung cakes, which are the primary cook- ing fuels for about three-quarters of Indian households...."

Emphasis mine, but all I could think of is when someone says "This food tastes like s...." the might mean it.

 

[D103]

This is a little off topic - sorry - but I didn't know where else to post it. There is a very interesting link to a speech on Harm Reduction (on the Vapors Forum under the medical/safety category) entitled Harm Reduction: the advocacy science and the science of advocacy. I strongly encourage interested persons to check it out. It is a speech given by a Harm Reduction Advocate - Professor Gerry Stimson, former Executive Director of International Harm Reduction Association and a researcher, educator and social scientist with over forty years experience. The following are his closing comments:
" Finally, for too long, public health has focused on the powerless, trying to get drug users, and the drinkers and the smokers to change their risky behavior. We tend to ignore the broader risk environment in which people live their lives. Moreover, there are many studies of the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of drug users(drinkers and smokers), and so few studies of the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of policy makers - and it is the behaviors of the latter that are a much more important problem.
At the end of the day, as researchers, public health experts, treatment providers and as advocates, our target should be the real risk takers: the decision makers who put politics above evidence and are prepared to take risks with other peoples lives."

 

[SimpleSins]

With the wide swathe of occupations in ecig users, I'm somewhat surprised that there isn't a PhD student looking for a good thesis topic.