WHO FCTC May Kill Millions of Smokers

It is shocking to read that the Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) want to prevent the use of two of the most effective methods for achieving smoking abstinence. (http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1011/S00426/tobacco-convention-agree-on-stronger-smoking-controls.htm)

Smoking prevalence rates have stagnated. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as stated: ““To further reduce disease and death from cigarette smoking, declines in cigarette smoking among adults must accelerate.” (CDC MMWR Vol. 59 / No. 35 http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/wk/mm5935.pdf)

When used as directed to wean down and off nicotine, medicinal nicotine products have a success rate of 7% at 6 months, 5% at one year, and only 2% at 20 months. (Moore D, et al. Effectiveness and safety of nicotine replacement therapy assisted reduction to stop smoking: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 338:b1024 2009 http://www.bmj.com/content/338/bmj.b1024.full.pdf+html)

The main reason medicinal nicotine products are so ineffective is that they require sustained nicotine abstinence. As soon as treatment ends, relapse begins. Dr. Brad Rodu of the University of Louisville states, ““Given that the outcome measure for all smoking cessation trials in the U.S. is complete abstinence, it is no wonder that most cessation methods are deemed failures. For successful tobacco regulation, the FDA must break the public health community’s addiction to abstinence promotion.“ (http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com/2010/10/noteworthy-news-from-norway-snus-is.html)

Let’s compare the success rate of medicinal nicotine to methods that do not require nicotine abstinence.

Dr. Karl Erik Lund compared quit rates, defined as the percentage of ever smokers who are now former smokers, among snus users and never users of snus in seven previously published Norwegian surveys. The results were published in Addiction magazine. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2088345)

Lund Survey No.	Quit Rate - Snus Users (%)	Quit Rate - Never Snus Users (%)
1	80	52
2	55	23
3	81	63
4	62	53
5	75	45
6	90	50
7	73	43

It is important to note that not all smokeless tobacco products are alike. Swedish snus is formulated to reduce cancer-causing nitrosamines. Studies show that the health risks associated with Swedish snus use are significantly lower than the health risks of continued smoking. An assessment by Gartner, et al published in Lancet found “There was little difference in health-adjusted life expectancy between smokers who quit all tobacco and smokers who switch to snus (difference of 0.1-0.3 years for men and 0.1-0.4 years for women). For net harm to occur, 14-25 ex-smokers would have to start using snus to offset the health gain from every smoker who switched to snus rather than continuing to smoke. Likewise, 14-25 people who have never smoked would need to start using snus to offset the health gain from every new tobacco user who used snus rather than smoking.” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17498798)

As for electronic cigarettes, most of the world-wide panic has been generated by a very misleading press conference held by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding their testing of 18 electronic cigarette cartridges made by the two companies engaged in a lawsuit against the agency (a strong signal of bias).

The FDA failed to point out that the highest quantity of “carcinogens” detected in a cartridge is equal to the quantity in an FDA-approved nicotine patch (8 nanograms). The quantity of diethylene glycol detected was so miniscule that a 150 pound person would need to ingest the contents of 100,000 cartridges in a single day to be poisoned. So why all the panic? Electronic cigarettes are about as dangerous as FDA-approved nicotine products, which makes them several orders of magnitude safer than smoking.

Critics keep claiming that there is no proof that electronic cigarettes help people to stop smoking. If by “stop smoking” they mean “achieve total abstinence from nicotine” then the critics are correct. However, if what they mean by “stop smoking” is to stop inhaling smoke and to enjoy all the resulting health benefits, then the critics are wrong. Surveys of electronic cigarette users consistently show that a large majority of users are able to substitute the electronic cigarette for all of their smoked cigarettes.

Survey #	# Subjects	Quit Rate
Heavner K, et al. Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) as potential tobacco harm reduction products: Results of an online survey of ecigarette users, Tobacco Harm Reduction Yearbook 2010.	303	79%
Etter JF. Electronic cigarettes: a survey of users. BMC Public Health 2010, 10:231.	81	63%
The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association, online survey of e-cigarette users.	2217	80%

Here is a summary of the success rates for the three methods of achieving smoking abstinence:

Method	Success Rates
NRT	Best Case: 10-15% As directed: 2-7%
Swedish Snus	55-90%
Electronic Cigarettes	63-80%

If the WHO FCTC succeeds in pushing electronic cigarettes and smokeless products such as Swedish snus off the market, they will have succeeded in making a significant contribution to the death of millions of smokers who could have quit smoking by switching to a safer source of nicotine.

Reality Faces Off Against Unfounded Fears

Compare and contrast reality with fears about electronic cigarettes voiced by people who have never seen one, never talked to anyone who used one, and never bothered to read the available studies.

The Fears - As reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Volume 153, Number 9, p. 607-609 (“E-Cigarettes: A Rapidly Growing Internet Phenomenon”):

We contend that the e-cigarette boom presents important public health concerns on at least 3 fronts. First, e-cigarettes may pose a risk as starter products for nonusers of tobacco. Although candy-flavored tobacco products and e-cigarettes were recently banned by the FDA in efforts to hinder marketing toward children, the posturing of e-cigarettes as “green” and “healthy” could deceptively lure adolescents. E-cigarettes also may represent a way for adolescents and adults to skirt smoke-free indoor air laws.

The Reality - As reported in Chapter 19 of the Tobacco Harm Reduction Yearbook 2010 (“Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) as potential tobacco harm reduction products: Results of an online survey of e-cigarette users”):

All respondents previously smoked and 91% had attempted to stop smoking before trying ecigarettes. About half (55%) were 31-50, while 32% were >50 years old. Most (79%) of the respondents had been using e-cigarettes for <6 months and reported using them as a complete (79%) or partial (17%) replacement for, rather than in addition to (4%), cigarettes. The majority of respondents reported that their general health (91%), smoker’s cough (97%), ability to exercise (84%), and sense of smell (80%) and taste (73%) were better since using e-cigarettes and none reported that these were worse. Although people whose e-cigarette use completely replaced smoking were more likely to experience improvements in health and smoking caused symptoms, most people who substituted e-cigarettes for even some of their cigarettes experienced improvements.

Similar results were seen in two other surveys of users. J.F. Etter’s “Electronic cigarettes: a survey of users,” published in BMC Public Health reported, “Our results suggest that most people who buy these products are current and former smokers who use ecigarettes to help quit smoking, just as they would use NRT.” The median age was 37, ranging from 19 to 65 years. An unpublished survey conducted by the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association (casaa.org) found that 50.9% of the 2,217 responders were between ages 30 and 49 years and 27.4% were older than 50 years, and 99.6% had been smokers.

Thus, reality certainly does not match the fears that e-cigarettes will be “starter products” geared towards adolescents and children. It is interesting that critics of e-cigarettes accuse manufacturers of offering flavors as a means of attracting children, but do not accuse the makers of Nicorette gum of luring children to their products via White Ice Mint, Cinnamon Surge, and Fruit Chill flavors.

Lastly, reality faces off against fear #3. E-cigarettes are not burned. Therefore they produce no smoke. Expressing fears that people will use them to “skirt smoke-free indoor air laws” is as ridiculous as fearing that children will purchase root beer as a means of defying laws against sales of alcohol to minors. Root beer isn’t an alcoholic beverage, and vapor isn’t air-polluting smoke.

Authors Yamin, Bitton, and Bates end their Annals of Internal Medicine essay with this statement: "Although the safety and efficacy of e-cigarettes is uncertain, we believe that clearly counseling patients against e-cigarette use, as well as other tobacco use, is prudent." Presumably, the authors would prefer that smokers stick with the FDA-approved smoking-cessation products that have a success rate that ranges from 2% to 7% when used as directed.

It is estimated that there are now a million former smokers who achieved their smoking abstinence by switching to e-cigarettes. It isn't at all prudent to recommend that they stop using e-cigarettes and risk relapse, nor is it prudent to steer current smokers away from a product that has a success rate that ranges from 63% to 80% based on the three surveys mentioned above.

Biological Basis of the Need for Nicotine

Nicotine is neither a nutrient nor a naturally occurring substance in the body. However, nicotine mimics the effects of acetylcholine (ACh) throughout the body, and ACh is a naturally-occurring substance. Although brain disorders can be caused by injury or strokes, most of them are caused by imbalances in neurotransmitters.

And nicotine appears to provide a corrective action for some of these imbalances.

Nicotine is being studied for treating Attention Deficit Disorder, chronic pain disorders, depression, anxiety, and memory impairments. It also works to prevent some of the nastier side-effects of medications used to treat schizophrenia. Nicotine prevents the build-up of alpha synuclean protein deposits in the brain which has implications for the prevention of dementia and Parkinson's Disease.

Many of the diseases that we used to call “mental” or “behavioral” we now know have a basis in biochemistry. There is still a tendency, I think, for people to hold those who have a brain disorder responsible for healing themselves. The “crazy people” should be able to “control themselves” better, the reasoning goes.

How many kids with true hyperactivity disorders were beaten for their misbehavior? And look how long we blamed those with stomach ulcers for being “too uptight” and "refusing" to relax — when in reality the cause of their disorder was a bacterial infection!

So I’m asking you to open yourself to the possiblity that feeling ill in the absence of nicotine and experiencing symptom improvement in the presence of nicotine is not necessarily a moral failing. It just might have a biological basis. This would explain why some folks need nicotine and others do quite well without it.