NICOTINE REPLACEMENT THERAPY

 The truth the agencies in the last blog don’t want you to know about.

Cigarettes are a highly refined nicotine delivery system that last year alone generated £8,000 million for the government’s coffers.

Today, with greater restrictions imposed on marketing and the sales of cigarettes and the immanent ban on smoking in confined spaces, more and more people are looking at giving up the weed.

Although many of the 4000 ingredients found in the burning of cigarettes are carcinogenic, Nicotine is highly addictive and as dangerous as heroin.

 So if you want to stop smoking what are the alternatives?

Will power or cold turkey – on your own dealing with the addiction, breaking the habit, the cravings and the physicality of what to do with your hands. This method is attributed to have a success rate of 1%. (That’s someone who is a non-smoker one year after giving up)

Nicotine Replacement Therapy – patches, gum, nasal spray, microtab, lozenge and inhalators.

If you approach a doctor, pharmacist of healthcare professional expressing support to give up smoking you are offered one of the above listed forms of NRT.

These products are manufactured by large pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline & Pharmacia and are advertised as twice as effective as will power alone. Wait a minute, willpower alone is 1% successful so NRT is 2% successful or 98% unsuccessful. So why do medical professionals, NHS Smoking Helpline, Quit, British Heart Foundation and ASH promote them above all else and are there any other alternatives?

Well all of these institutions and charitable bodies rely on either the government or the pharmaceutical industry for a sauce of revenue. I’m sure the people who work for any of these bodies are good people with good intensions but I can’t help thinking there is a serious conflict of interest here. This results in the people who need the real help in kicking the smoking habit swap cigarettes for patches.

A common argument is that the government needs revenue from smokers or the economy would be screwed, but by swapping cigarettes for NRT this revenue stream continues to flow. So who has reverted back to smoking? Are you on a continuous cycle of smoking, NRT, smoking? So you tell me who’s getting screwed?

Hypnotherapy – Men’s Health recently reported a success rate of 80% of stopping smoking with hypnosis and New Scientist wrote hypnosis is the most effective way of giving up smoking, according to the largest ever scientific comparison of ways of breaking the smoking habit, willpower, it turns out, counts for very little.

Why are alternative treatments like hypnotherapy and acupuncture not offered to people who wish to stop smoking when they appear to be the best method to stop? Is it because there isn’t a consistent revenue stream flowing back to the government coffers?

More information about how to quit smoking. at Men’s Health.

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Here’s is an interesting pop quiz you can do to test your knowledge on smoking and the tobacco industry.

Scroll down to the end for the answers.

Q1. Marlboro cigarettes global annual sales exceed…

A. $15 Billion                                                 B. $5 Million

C. $ 10Million                                                 D. $10 Billion

Q2. How many cigarette related deaths are there in the UK per year?

A. 12,000                                                        B. 20,000

C. 100,000                                                      D. 120,000

Q3. How many compounds or additives are there in a cigarette?

A. 600                                                             B. 160

C. 60                                                               D. 600

Q4. When a cigarette is burnt, how many toxic and/or chemical compounds are made?

A. 1000                                                           B. 2000

C. 4000                                                           D. 10,000

Q5. Which country is the largest importer of American style tobacco?

A. UK                                                             B. USA

B. Brazil                                                         D. China

Q6. How many cigarette filters are estimated to be found as litter in the westernised world?

A. 4.5 Thousand                                             B. 4.5 Million

C. 4.5 Billion                                                   D. 4.5 Trillion 

Q7. Predicted deaths from smoking for the year 2030 are…

A. 4 Million                                                     B. 6 Million

C. 8 Million                                                     D. 10 Million

Q8. Brazilian tobacco farmers have a higher than average suicide rate from the rest of the country. Is the rate…

A. 3 x Higher                                                  B. 5 x Higher

B. 7 x Higher                                                  D. 10 x Higher 

Q9. The first country in the world to ban the sale of tobacco and smoking in public places is…

A. Australia                                                     B. Bhutan

C. Ireland                                                       D. Canada

Q10. Bidis are…

A. Old people                                                 B. A healthy cigarette

C. An unfiltered cigarette                                 D. A sweet 

Q11. Philip Morris’s Youth Smoking Prevention Program advertisement on MTV Europe was called…

A. You don’t have to smoke to be cool          B. Don’t do it!

C. Cool it… a smoke?                                   D. I’m cool, I just can’t help it.

Q12. Since the ban on tobacco advertising in the UK in 2003 how many new brands have Philip Morris launched?

A. 0                                                                 B. 1

C. 2                                                                 D. 3 

Answers

Q1 (A) Philip Morris manufactures, markets, sells and distributes in more than 160 countries.

Q2 (D) 120,000 deaths a year is equivalent to the population of a town the size of Norwich or Chester.

Q3 (A) Arsenic (Rat Poison), Formaldehyde (Body Preservative), Acetone (Nail Polish Remover), Hexamine ( BBQ Lighter), Cadmium ( Rechargeable Batteries), Lead (Petrol Fumes) Methanol (Rocket Fuel) and Ammonia (Household Cleaner) are all found in cigarettes.

Q4 (C) The additives used in the manufacture of cigarettes are government approved for food. However, they were not tested by burning them. It is the burning of the substances that changes their properties. Many of these chemicals are carcinogenic. i.e. cause cancer.

Q5 (B) Tobacco companies now grow and manufacture cigarettes in developing countries where overheads are less, markets are larger and anti tobacco legislation is almost non-existent.

Q6 (D) Cigarette filters are not biodegradable as cellulose acetate; a form of plastic, is one of the components that make up the butt and never breaks down.

Q7 (D) 70% of these deaths will be in developing countries.

Q8 (B) A link was found between organophosphate pesticides and skyrocketing suicides which coincided with the seeding and harvesting of tobacco crops in Venancio Aires.

Q9 (B) The Himalayan kingdom of 900,000 people banned tobacco use in early 2005 as part of its continuing tobacco-free initiative programme.

Q10 (C) Imported from India, these cigarettes contain tobacco but are wrapped in nonporous leaves and sold in a variety of flavours such as strawberry, mango and vanilla. Bidis are referred to as cigarettes with training wheels by health authorities.

Q11 (A) This initiative is dwarfed by corporate sponsorship, marketing and point of sale activity at rock concerts, formula 1 and sporting events.

Q12 (C) Basic and Marlboro Blend 28 have both been successfully launched in the dark market post advertising ban.

 Have you got what it takes to be a tobacco executive?

>> Take this cool interactive quiz  at www.thetruth.com Now <<

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So here I am, Saturday night and I’m still working at my PC. I met Katie last night and discussed Smoke Swap in Cargo. Ok, my friends Scrimshire were headliners but I can’t think of a more apt place than a smoky venue to discuss a tobacco related film. Cargo isn’t unlike any other bar in the amount of passive smoke circulating around the venue. I left about 3am stinking of the pungent odour and my cloths on my bedroom floor aren’t going to clean themselves today.

I went to a preview screening of Taking Liberties at Amnesty International this week. An amazing film on so many levels made me laugh and genuinely scared me. The horror of this is it is real life and the laws the government have been eroding or passing in the last decade are truly shocking. If there is one thing that the government has got right and that is smoking ban in public places. No-one in their right mind can’t say this is a bad thing. Bring on the ban.

Words of support… 

Looking forward to meeting up Monday. Be careful with the fags though…. I’ve been trying to quit for fifteen years. It’s not fun.
Neil Boorman -- Author of Bonfire of the Brands 11/05/07

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt289JNcvsY

I can’t believe you’ll start smoking!!!!!!! Now don’t you freaking start bumming fags of me, a’right!?!?!?

Davide Scaleghe -- Producer Current TV 11/05/07

Cheers bredwin. I hope you die of lung cancer. X

Sam Cox 12/05/07

Right, I’m of to watch The Insider starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe based on the true story about Jeffery Wigand who blew the whistle on big tobacco in the USA. Just remember, it only takes one individual to change the world. I think there is a message in there for our Prime Minister! 

Jeffery Wigand

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wwJp8VDGzE

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SMOKE SWAP

Ob-Doc.

What happens to an individual physically and socially when, as a life long, healthy living non-smoker, he starts to smoke cigarettes?

What happens to an individual physically and physiologically when having smoked 10 cigarettes a day since her early teens she decides to give up unsupported?

Smoke Swap follows producer/director Perry (non-smoker) and presenter Katie (smoker) as they embark on this social experiment in the run up to the ban on smoking in public places on 1^st July 2007.

Under the watchful eye of Dr. Mace, Perry and Katie will be monitored for the positive and the negatives effects of their actions. He will chart the changes in the cotimine levels, carbon monoxide levels, skin, respiratory system – oxygen carrying capacity, sperm and general health over a two week period. (It would be great if we could find a computer wizz to age both people according to their smoking preference).

Not only will we see the crossroads of health changes of the two individuals over the outlined time but we will also see what happens to the couple during their social time. How they deal with their cravings and addictions. We observe how the new social surroundings effect their habits i.e. Smirting, cravings and irritability levels.

Katie will give up smoking unsupported (cold turkey) but we will look into alternative methods, NRT’s, hypnosis and will power. Will she put weight on? After the elapsed time frame will she revert back to smoking?

How will Perry approach the first cigarette? Will his body reject the poison? Katie will school him on how to light up, inhale and hold a cigarette. Will he become addicted? Will he be able to get off them when it’s finished and if so how? Perry will also buy a jar and keep all his smoked butts in.

What conflict between Perry and Katie will arise during the course of the experiment

Smoke Swap will have the answers and will; I’m sure, throw up many more questions.

**Hypnotherapy could be used on Perry to implant a trigger so at the end of the experiment his identity as a non-smoker will return.

The Smoking Man – Perry

The Abstainer – Katie

Professional – Dr. Peter Mace / Dr. Sunny Kaul / Dr. Ranak

Therapist – Lee Bannister IGPP ITEC Dhyp NLPprac

Respiratory Physiologist – ??????

Camera – Lorna-Jane Hamer / Sam Harvey

Editor – Stephen Wilson

© IMP Film Co. All rights reserved 2007

>> Quit Smoking Now! <<

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Tuesday 22 March 2005 Perry

Day two back at PM HQ. Boring SMS training today, I definitely can’t take any more of this. The team has been informed we will be selling Special Edition stock directly to On-Trade customers from now on. Everyone left early and NJ wasn’t in today so at the end of play I approached LR. She said she was to busy when I requested a meeting but agreed to talk on the way to the car park. So I told her in the car park I was quitting, I was pro smoking bans and do not want to sell cigarettes.

Technorati Tags: ban, cigarette, edition, Marlboro, on-trade, PM, smoking, special

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