Tobacco - Addiction
- Mar 13, 2006 -
Researchers have recently determined that the new low-tar and ultra-light cigarettes are no less hazardous to one’s health than the regular cigarette. Dr. Michael Thun, an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society says, “Our study is the strongest evidence yet that the design changes in cigarettes marketed as light and ultra-light have not made them less deadly. The only approach that reliably reduces risk is to quit—and to quit as soon as possible.” Even Tim Lord, chief executive of the Tobacco Manufacturer’s Association in London, says, “The only safe cigarette is no cigarette.”
Health experts and anti-smoking groups have said all along that the light cigarettes are no safer than regular cigarettes because smokers generally compensate by taking bigger or more frequent puffs or inhaling more strongly. Amanda Sandford of Action on Smoking and Health says, “The level of tar in a cigarette doesn’t matter. It is still going to cause cancer if you continue to smoke for many years.”
“Low-tar Cigarettes Just As Deadly,” http://www.nzherald.co.nz (The New Zealand Herald), January 12, 2004 [Access fee required]
“Nicotine is one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the United States. In 2003, 29.8 percent of the U.S. population 12 and older – 70.8 million people – used tobacco at least once in the month prior to being interviewed. This figure includes 3.6 million young people age 12 to 17. There were no statistically significant changes in past-month rates of the different tobacco products among this age group between 2002 and 2003. However, there were significant declines in past-year and lifetime cigarette use between 2002 and 2003. In addition, the rate of past-month cigarette use decreased among 13 year-olds. Young adults aged 18 to 25 reported the highest rate of current use of any tobacco products (44.8 percent).
“Cigarette smoking has been the most popular method of taking nicotine since the beginning of the 20th century. In 1989, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a report that concluded that cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, such as cigars, pipe tobacco, and chewing tobacco, are addictive and that nicotine is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction. The report also determined that smoking was a major cause of stroke and the third leading cause of death in the United States. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, causing more than 440,000 deaths each year and resulting in an annual cost of more than $75 billion in direct medical costs. (See http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/issue.htm).
“Nicotine is highly addictive. Nicotine provides an almost immediate ‘kick’ because it causes a discharge of epinephrine from the adrenal cortex. This stimulates the central nervous system, and other endocrine glands, which causes a sudden release of glucose. Stimulation is then followed by depression and fatigue, leading the abuser to seek more nicotine.
“Nicotine is absorbed readily from tobacco smoke in the lungs, and it does not matter whether the tobacco smoke is from cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. Nicotine also is absorbed readily when tobacco is chewed. With regular use of tobacco, levels of nicotine accumulate in the body during the day and persist overnight. Thus, daily smokers or chewers are exposed to the effects of nicotine for 24 hours each day.
“Addiction to nicotine results in withdrawal symptoms when a person tries to stop smoking. For example, a study found that when chronic smokers were deprived of cigarettes for 24 hours, they had increased anger, hostility, and aggression, and loss of social cooperation. Persons suffering from withdrawal also take longer to regain emotional equilibrium following stress. During periods of abstinence and/or craving, smokers have shown impairment across a wide range of psychomotor and cognitive functions, such as language comprehension.”
NIDA InfoFacts: Cigarettes and Other Nicotine Products (National Institute on Drug Abuse) [Accessed October 31, 2005]
“Americans smoked 400 billion cigarettes in 2003, nearly 5 percent fewer than the year before and down 20 percent from a decade ago. State excise taxes are pushing sticker prices higher and regulation remains relentless. The litigation against Big Tobacco continues, as does the march toward smoke-free workplaces, restaurants, and bars. Recent Gallup polling confirms that the tobacco industry has passed its prime, but the smoking habit in America is far from extinguished.
“According to data from Gallup’s 2004 Consumption Habits poll, one in every four Americans smokes. In the time Gallup has been asking the question, the number of self-professed smokers peaked in 1954, when 45 percent of Americans said that they had smoked a cigarette in the last week. The percentage declined sharply over the next few decades and has stabilized at around 25 percent since the 1990s. Interestingly, the majority of smokers—in the 80 percent range since 2000—report that they would like to give up smoking.”
Raksha Arora, “Tobacco Industry Not Out Yet,” http://www.gallup.com (Gallup Poll), August 17, 2004 [Subscription required]
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