While not conclusively snuffing out the long-term promise of nicotine patches and gum, a new study by researchers at Harvard and UMass Boston casts a whiff of doubt. Still, “it’s just one study,” cautioned Judith Coykendall, program manager for the Seven Hills Behavioral Health Tobacco-Free Community Partnership. The report — penned by Hillel R. Alpert, Gregory N. Connolly and Lois Biener, and recently published in the online version of the journal “Tobacco Control” — started with 787 Massachusetts adults who had quit smoking within the previous two years.

Participants (not all of whom continued throughout the study’s duration) were asked whether they used nicotine replacement therapy via the patch, gum, inhaler or nasal spray. They were surveyed in 2001-02, 2003-04 and 2005-06.

“The results showed that, for each time period, almost one-third of recent quitters reported to have relapsed,” according to a news release. “The researchers found no difference in relapse rate among those who used (nicotine replacement therapies) for more than six weeks, with or without professional counseling.”

Also, the release said, “No difference in quitting success with use of NRT was found for either heavy or light smokers.”

To Felix Cerrato III, a 39-year-old associate court officer at New Bedford District Court, a summary of the report rang true.

Cerrato has quit smoking and relapsed three times, despite wearing nicotine patches for months on his last attempt.

He said the study makes him feel like “the stuff that they’re advertising claims it’s going to help you quit and it doesn’t work at all. … If they did, I wouldn’t be sitting here at lunch every day with a pack of Newports.”

Dr. Brett Hurteau, a family practice physician at Southcoast Primary Care in Dartmouth, said there is, in fact, a place for nicotine replacement therapy in smoking cessation.

But compared to anti-depressants and the medication Chantix, “nicotine replacement therapy is probably the least effective of the therapies for smoking cessation,” said Hurteau. “In my practice, I find that nicotine replacement is probably about 25 percent effective or less … probably more towards 10 percent effective in the long term.”

Often, people smoke not just out of addiction but use nicotine to self-treat depression, anxiety or other issues, according to Hurteau. And though the patch and gum provide nicotine, too, “there’s nothing that the field of medicine can come up with to match (cigarettes’) delivery system,” he said. “Someone takes a couple of puffs of cigarette, within seconds, the nicotine is in their brain.”

Anti-depressants can address root reasons for smoking, Hurteau explained, and by blocking nicotine receptors in the brain, Chantix lets smokers “see smoking for what it really is.”

Nevertheless, Lisa Bowden, 42, of New Bedford managed to kick her smoking habit with nicotine replacement three years ago.

Bowden called her use of the patch, with nicotine lozenges for cravings — a combination of gradual and quicker nicotine delivery systems that Hurteau said is probably the most effective use of NRT — “very important” to her success.

But, she said, actually staying smoke-free also required total commitment.

“The patches and the lozenges took care of the physical addiction, but I had to make the behavioral changes,” she said, describing how she axed her morning coffee-and-cigarette ritual by taking a shower first thing and switching to tea.

Although the authors of the recent report, which received grant funding from the National Cancer Institute, cite other studies they say help back their findings, Coykendall pointed to another study that highlights the benefits of nicotine replacement therapy, pharmaceutical aides and counseling.

The study by George Washington University’s Patrick Richard, Kristina West and Leighton Ku, examined the return on investment for the state’s anti-smoking outreach and the MassHealth benefit for cessation counseling, nicotine replacement therapies and pharmacological aides. Authors concluded that every dollar spent on the program saved about $3 in inpatient, cardiovascular-related medical costs.

“For us in Massachusetts, we have the dollars and cents to show that (the MassHealth benefit) has made a huge difference,” Coykendall said.

The study in Tobacco Control tracked recently quit smokers over a limited time, but Coykendall said smokers typically make several quit attempts before they stop for good. And, meanwhile, she described value in each try.

People learn what pitfalls to watch out for, she said. And “anybody who makes it for a year to two … if they relapse, they’re going to try again.”

Kicking the nicotine habit can be one of the hardest things a person can do. Tobacco companies have spent billions of dollars researching on the best ways to keep users addicted to their products. Most already know and understand the negative impact tobacco use has on us but few actually understand why. In cigarettes, there are over 4,000 chemicals that have been added to the already highly processed tobacco leaves. Even the paper wrap has a lot of additives and chemicals added to it.

All tobacco products are dangerous and addictive. Unfortunately the tobacco companies are spending a great deal of time, research and effort to create new tobacco users and to keep the current tobacco users using!

Tobacco companies have focused their attention on teens. Flavoured tobacco products like cigarillos are directly targeted to teens. These are tobacco products that are wrapped in tobacco leaves and can be sold as a single instead of a pack. This makes it very affordable for a teenager to buy. A 2007 Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey found that cigarillo use is a major form of tobacco use in Canada. Teens are at a three times higher risk of having smoked a cigarillo in the past month as Canadians over 25. Cigarillos are unfiltered so teens will inhale more toxins from the cigarillo than someone who smokes a cigarette. If you would like to report any business selling tobacco products to minors please call the Health Canada Enforcement Specialist at 780-495-3305.

Smokeless tobacco is thought to be a product that can enhance performance and is harmless because there is no smoke. However, like cigarettes, the body will close off the capillaries as a defense mechanism to ensure that oxygen gets to the brain and other organs when one uses smokeless tobacco products. Also, a person who used 8 – 10 dips per day receives the same amount of nicotine as someone who smokes 30 – 40 cigarettes a day!

Where does one go if they want to kick the nicotine habit? Many will go to their local pharmacist as they have a wealth of information on various tobacco cessation products. The family doctor can also help with prescriptions and other information on tobacco cessation products. Kim Ruptash is an addiction counsellor specializing in tobacco cessation. Her number is 780-842-7619 (available through the Rite line 310-0000). There is also a 24-hr Addictions help line at 1-866-332-2322

The Mental Health Capacity Building in Schools Initiative (MHCB) is an integrated, multidisciplinary team approach providing promotion, prevention and early intervention addiction, health and mental health services to children, families and communities. The VIBE Program is one of the 38 projects involved in this initiative led by Alberta Health Services Addiction and Mental Health in partnership with Alberta Education and funded by Alberta Health and Wellness.For more information on the benefits sleep and other health & wellness related topics please contact your VIBE Coach, or the Program Coordinator Pat Calyniuk at 780-853-3718.

If you live in Sutter County and are looking to quit your tobacco habit, there’s a free offer for you. The California Smokers Helpline has a limited number of 2-week supplies of nicotine patches to help smokers stop. Eligible tobacco users who call 1 (800) NO-BUTTS and enroll in the no-cost telephone-based quitting program will receive a free two-week starter kit of patches as long as supplies last.

The patches will be provided on a first come, first served basis.

Sutter County was selected to participate in the program because it has a smoking rate of 16 percent. Thirty-four California counties with smoking rates of 14 percent or higher qualify for the program.

The state’s overall smoking rate is 11.9 percent.

This California Smokers Helpline is part of the national Communities Putting Prevention to Work effort which aims to improve health and lower medical costs by preventing disease, such as those caused by tobacco use.

More than 46 million adults in the United States smoke cigarettes, cigars or pipes, and a few million use snuff or chewing tobacco. Although 70 percent of smokers say they’d like to stop, nicotine is so addictive only 3 percent successfully quit each year. Smoking sends nicotine straight to the lungs, where it’s absorbed by oxygenated blood, delivered to the heart and pumped into the arteries and the brain.

The nicotine in snuff and chewing tobacco, which is absorbed mainly through the mucous membranes of the mouth, reaches the brain more slowly, but constant use maintains a steady level in the blood and brain.
Once in the brain, nicotine triggers the release of the neurotransmitter do-pamine in the nucleus accumbens, which is the brain’s reward and motivation center. Each hit of nicotine produces pleasurable feelings. But as it gets washed out of the body, the feelings of pleasure are replaced by uncomfortable symptoms of withdrawal – trouble concentrating, nervousness, headaches, increas-ed appetite, dizziness, irritability, anxiety, depression and sleeping problems. This prompts most users to reach for more tobacco.
Brenda L. Douglass, clinical coordinator and certified tobacco treatment specialist at the AtlantiCare Special Care Center, recognizes the difficulties that come along with kicking the habit.
“In a simple way, (nicotine) highjacks the safety centers in the brain, so when people know they need to quit, they struggle,” Douglass said.
The reasons for quitting are familiar but worth restating. Tobacco ac-counts for about one in five deaths in the U.S. For every smoking-related death, 20 more people suffer from at least one serious smoking-related illness, including cancer, heart disease, stroke and lung diseases. The risk of these illnesses and other smoking-related health problems drops significantly for those who quit.
Since 1965, the number of smokers in the U.S. has declined by more than 50 percent. But despite general understanding of the harmful effects of tobacco and current policies restricting access to it, that trend is weakening. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that every day, nearly 3,000 adolescents and adults begin smoking on a daily basis.
For people who want to stop using tobacco, two hurdles must be jumped: overcoming the physical addiction to nicotine and breaking the psychological habit.
Douglass further explained that with both counseling and patience, the unhealthy habit can be kicked.
Nicotine replacement therapy
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is a common strategy for managing the physical addiction, giving the brain the nicotine it demands without exposure to hundreds of other harmful substances in cigarette smoke. And, with relief from withdrawal symptoms, users can try to free themselves of the tobacco habit. Compared to cigarettes, NRT supplies a lower dose of nicotine, which is absorbed more slowly and reaches a lower, but steadier, level in the blood and brain.
A variety of NRT products approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are available. Although results vary, many controlled studies indicate that consistent use of NRT increases the chances of quitting by 50 percent to 70 percent. Among the choices:
–Nicotine patch. Available over the counter, the patch supplies a low dose of nicotine that gets absorbed by the bloodstream throughout the day. On the planned “quit day,” the smoker applies a nicotine patch to a hairless spot on the upper arm or torso. A typical patch is worn for 16 or 24 hours, depending on the person’s needs, then replaced.
Most people should use the patch for eight weeks. The major side effect is skin irritation at the site. (This can be prevented by applying the patch to different spots.) A too-high nicotine dose can cause racing heartbeat, sleep problems, and headache.
–Nicotine gum. Nicotine gum is also available without a prescription. When chewed, it releases a low dose of nicotine that passes into the bloodstream through the lining of the mouth. It may be easier for a user to regulate the dose of nicotine with gum than with a patch.
People chew the gum a few times to release nicotine. Then they place it between their gums and cheek. The nicotine is absorbed over about 20 minutes, and people usually discard the gum after 30 minutes.
Many clinicians recommend chewing at least one piece of gum every one to two hours while awake, for one to three months. People using nicotine gum often chew too few pieces per day and for too few weeks to receive its maximum benefits.
Side effects include hiccups, upset stomach, a sore jaw, or a burning sensation in the mouth. This may result from not chewing the gum as directed. To avoid becoming dependent on nicotine gum, people should use it for six months or less and reduce use gradually.
–Nicotine lozenges. Like nicotine patches and gum, lozenges are available without a prescription. They supply a low dose of nicotine to reduce symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. People suck on a lozenge every hour or two during the day, or as needed. This product may cause upset stomach.
–Nicotine nasal spray. The nicotine in a prescription-only nasal spray reaches the bloodstream within five to 10 minutes. Relief of withdrawal symptoms is relatively fast, but there’s a higher potential for dependency than with other nicotine products.
It’s generally recommended that patients use the spray at least eight times a day to ensure that they receive an adequate dose of medication. Side effects include nose and throat irritation, watery eyes, sneezing, coughing, diarrhea, and rapid heartbeat. Nicotine nasal spray is not recommended for people with asthma or chronic sinusitis.
–Nicotine inhaler. Cigarette-shaped medication cartridges, available by prescription, supply low-dose nicotine through the mouth, throat, and lungs as people puff. They can be used whenever there’s an urge for a cigarette. The nicotine level peaks in about 20 minutes and stays in the blood for one to two hours. The standard dose is up to 16 cartridges per day, for up to 12 weeks. Side effects include coughing and mouth and throat irritation. Using cartridges may be too much like smoking to help the user break the habit.
–High-dose or combination therapy. People who are heavy smokers might need a higher dose of NRT to get relief. For this group, combining a long-lasting product, such as a patch, with a fast-acting product, such as nicotine gum, may be more effective than a single form of NRT.
Non-nicotine pills
Some medications used for quitting smoking don’t release nicotine into the bloodstream. Instead, they act on the brain to decrease cravings, withdrawal symptoms, or both.
–Varenicline (Chantix). This prescription drug works in two ways. It mimics the effects of nicotine, cutting down cravings and withdrawal symptoms. It also partially blocks nicotine’s effect, causing a smoker to get less of a reward. It’s not meant to be used with NRT, though some studies have shown that the two therapies might be safely combined.
People usually start taking varenicline a week or two before they quit, giving it time to reach a steady level in the bloodstream. Varenicline is generally taken for 12 weeks, but some clinicians may prescribe it for longer, provided there are no adverse effects.
The most serious potential side effects of varenicline are psychological, including agitation, depression, suicidal thinking, and vivid, unusual dreams. Any nausea is usually mild and improves over time. Other common side effects include headache, vomiting, gas, insomnia, and changes in taste.
–Bupropion (Wellbutrin, Zyban). This prescription antidepressant helps reduce the desire to smoke by triggering some of the same receptors as nicotine. Because it doesn’t contain nicotine, it can be used in combination with NRT.
A smoker should start taking bupropion one to two weeks before his or her planned quit day and continue taking it for eight to 12 weeks. It takes three to four weeks for the drug to reach its maximum effectiveness.
Side effects of bupropion may include the same psychological changes that can occur with varenicline. Other potential side effects: insomnia, anxiety, dry mouth, change in appetite, headache, diarrhea, dizziness, and skin rash.
–Vaccines. Researchers are testing anti-smoking vaccines that “immunize” smokers against the nicotine “high.” After getting the vaccine, the body produces antibodies that bind to nicotine, preventing it from leaving the blood and entering the brain. This limits nicotine’s effect on the brain. The hope is that without the effect, people won’t enjoy smoking and will be able to quit. This is similar to the way the stop-smoking prescription medicine varenicline (Chantix) works.
A handful of small trials suggest that vaccines may be effective, and larger trials are under way. How these investigational vaccines compare to NRTs remains to be seen.
Psychotherapy and self-help programs
Most treatment programs use behavioral and cognitive techniques to help smokers quit. The aim of behavioral therapy is to change the stimulus and response patterns that cause smoking (classical conditioning), or to reward patients for not smoking and teach them how to avoid it (operant conditioning and social learning). Patients are urged to find other ways to meet the needs served by smoking and taught to monitor themselves for cues that provoke it.
Although medication and counseling are effective when used individually for treating tobacco dependence, evidence shows that the combination is more effective than either one alone. One study found that the most successful quitters were those who used the greatest number of strategies. That’s why many experts – and American guidelines for the treatment of tobacco dependence – recommend a combination of medication and counseling.
Douglass agreed that success comes from a combination of both counseling and medication. She has many success stories at the Special Care Center where they do very close follow ups on their patients, as well as prepare individualized plans.
“It’s a personal preference for people, regarding how they wish to quit,” she said.

Researchers in a nondescript warren of offices behind a frosted-glass door in the basement of the Hock Building on Erwin Road are working on ways to help you give up those cigarettes. The little-known Duke Center for nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research is dedicated to developing and evaluating “new smoking cessation treatments and to find new applications and combinations of existing treatments.”

The center conducts human and animal subject studies and uses state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques and PET scans to investigate nicotine’s effects on rodents and also on people.

Despite the efforts by researchers at the center over the past three decades, more than 443,000 deaths in this country each year are attributable to smoking. Worldwide, nearly 6 million people die from tobacco use each year.

Breaking the addiction is not easy, acknowledged Jed Rose, director of the center.

“We’re trying to figure out why do people smoke, and why are they addicted to nicotine,” Rose said. “Really, why it’s so difficult for people to stop smoking is still somewhat mysterious.”

Unlike cocaine, alcohol and heroin, he pointed out, which produce euphoric highs, nicotine is much more subtle. “All these addictive drugs release dopamine,” a neurotransmitter in the brain that regulates reward and pleasure centers.Rose said. “But nicotine doesn’t get them as high.”

According to brain imaging the center has done, the “reinforcement passages” in smokers’ brains get stimulated by puffing on a cigarette, and “that makes the urge to reach for a cigarette really powerful,” Rose said. “We know that what makes something addictive is more than the euphoria.”

The researchers have found that the “stop signal” in the brain — its regulation system — is weakened and that the ritualistic component of smoking can take over.

When smokers are given intravenous shots of nicotine, researchers have discovered, “it’s not really satisfying to them,” Rose said. “They want the habit of smoking.”

If the center, which also has clinical offices in Raleigh, Charlotte and Winston-Salem, can’t help smokers quit, it wants to at least reduce the harm when they do smoke.

“If you need the nicotine but can get it without the toxic components of combustion, that would be better,” Rose said.

The center is working on a technology that lets users inhale nicotine without smoking. Philip Morris International, the world’s largest nongovernmental cigarette seller, recently bought the patent for the aerosol nicotine delivery system developed by Rose.

“The purchase is “an important step in our efforts to develop products that have the potential to reduce the risk of smoking-related diseases,” said Doug Dean, a Philip Morris senior vice president.

The aerosol delivery system is not the full answer and there may not be a silver bullet to help everyone stop smoking, Rose acknowledged. Even the new graphic images on packs of cigarettes won’t dissuade everyone who is addicted.

But “we have to go beyond nibbling at the edges,” Rose said. “We can do better, and that’s what we’re working at.”

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals’ plans for its quit-smoking vaccine have taken a major hit, as the Rockville biotech announced Monday that a phase 3 clinical trial failed to meet its major objective. Nabi has been collaborating on NicVax with British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline under a 2009 deal worth up to $500 million to Nabi. The deal included an upfront payment of $40 million. In the phase 3 trial, 11 percent of subjects receiving NicVax quit smoking for 16 weeks — the same as those who received a placebo.

Company executives were “quite surprised” by the “extremely disappointing” results, CEO Raafat Fahim said in a short conference call with analysts Monday morning. Data indicated that those receiving NicVax produced the expected level of antibodies, meaning there wasn’t a problem with the particular vaccine lot used in the trial, he said.

The results mean Nabi won’t receive a $20 million payment under the Glaxo deal that would have been triggered by two successful phase 3 trials, Fahim said.

Nabi also is conducting a second phase 3 trial of NicVax, with results expected late this year or early 2012. Each trial involves about 1,000 subjects.

“We are in the process of assessing the reasons for these unexpected data, as we await the results of the second phase 3 trial,” Fahim said in a statement. “Data from this second trial may provide clues that could help explain the disappointing results from the first trial. In the meantime, the board of directors is actively evaluating any and all appropriate strategic alternative actions to preserve shareholder value, while management is working to further control the operational expenses of the company.”

Nabi’s stock tumbled about 70 percent on the news.

Nabi, GlaxoSmithKline and their investors weren’t the only ones with high hopes for NicVax.

In April, the World Vaccine Congress presented Nabi with its Best Therapeutic Vaccine award for NicVax.

The company also received a $10 million grant — including $7.9 million in federal stimulus money — from the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2009 to continue developing NicVax.

“We are immensely encouraged by the results of this innovative research that promises to change the way we treat nicotine addiction in this country,” said Nora Volkow, director of the drug abuse institute, in a statement at the time.

NicVax is designed to work by stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies that bind to nicotine, which is then too large to cross the blood-brain barrier and cannot reach receptors in the brain, thus preventing addiction.

Smoking is more common in Bachelor’s degree students than those at the Master’s level, a study has revealed at the Centre for Physical Education and Sports Science at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro. Yasmeen Iqbal, Soniha Aslam and Aslam Ghouri’s results were published in the African Journal for Physical Health Education, Recreation and Dance. The objective of their study was to determine the knowledge, attitude, prevalence and factors leading to smoking among the students.

A total of 148 (128 men and 20 women) were randomly selected. A self-administered questionnaire was used to elicit information on demographics, smoking habits, attitude towards public action against smoking and knowledge of health hazards.
Smoking was more common among Bachelor’s (18 students) than Master’s degree students (4). There were 22 smokers, but most of them were occasional smokers (13). All of the women indicated that they never smoked. The student ages ranged from 18 to 35 years.
Sixteen students started smoking between ages 10 and 20 years. Out of 22 smokers, only five were heavy smokers (over 20 cigarettes a day). The most favoured smoking tool was filter-tipped cigarettes (12 students). The most common reason for smoking was peer pressure (12). A majority of students (53) who do not smoke believed that it was a useless habit.
Twelve smokers and 112 non-smokers favoured banning smoking advertisements in the media. Fourteen smokers and all non-smokers favored banning smoking in public places.
Both smokers (91%) and non-smokers (98%) had good knowledge of health hazards associated with smoking and passive smoking.

John, a friend of mine, has been smoking for thirty years. However, one year he decided to try and quit using nicotine gum. Several months later, he was still using nicotine gum. He then switched to zero nicotine gum – and noticed no difference at in the effect, and crucially no increased desire for nicotine. He used zero nicotine gum for several more months, before sadly switching back to cigarettes. While one person’s experience does not provide evidence that nicotine is not addictive, John’s experience has been backed up be several studies.

Nicotine

Nicotine, contrary to popular belief, does not cause the majority of the harm of smoking.

The culprit is combustion, and it doesn’t really matter what you burn and inhale – breathing in smoke is just bad for you.

We are still not sure how bad nicotine is, although one fear – that it could accelerate (but not cause) the growth of lung cancer – seems to have been disapated after a recent study found that nicotine did not accelerate the growth of tumours.

Activists, however, caution that nicotine is as more addictive than heroin.

But not everyone agrees…

Nicotine cravings

During a study at the Virginia Commonwealth University smokers were given both tobacco cigarettes and cigarettes with no nicotine.

Incredibly, the study found that de-nicotinized cigarettes were sufficient to repress at least some nicotine cravings.

A second study by Dr Dar found that Jewish smokers on the Sabath experienced very low cravings on the morning of the Sabbath, when they knew they could not have a cigarette for at least ten hours. It was not until the end of the day, when they anticipated the first cigarette, that their cravings started to rise.
His conclusion? That smoking is a habit, not an addiction.

E Cigarette Study

A study into the [LINK=http://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/]e cigarette[/LINK] by Eissenburg (disclaimer: I work for a company which retails these) found that the electronic cigarette was not delivering nicotine.

Yet hundreds of thousands of smokers have successfully switched to the electronic cigarette.

There has been some controversy over Eissenburg’s study, which used a very small sample and was in fact contradicted by a later study by the same scientist (my own theory is he used an early version of the electronic cigarette which was not as effective as the current models).

However, if correct it would again suggest that smoker’s addiction is more about habit than a physical need to use nicotine.

The Allen Carr Method: Mind over Matter

The most successful method of quitting smoking to date, the Allen Carr method, does not rely on any drugs or nicotine replacement products.

Instead, the method is psychological, and works by convincing the smoker that he or she is not addicted, that they are not getting pleasure out of smoking and that giving up is easy.

An independent study found a cessation rate of over 50% (more in Allen Carr clinics) – which compares to an average success rate of around 5% (when measured at one year) for cessation aids.

So, is nicotine addictive?

With billions made from the sale of nicotine cessation drugs and products, don’t expect to see a plethora of studies proving that nicotine is addictive.

But next time you try to stop smoking, consider doing so without the drugs and NRT aids big pharm wants you to buy!

Most smokers are very aware of the damage they are doing to their own health – and know that others can also suffer though passive smoking. But a worrying new study reveals that smoking infront of children not only passes on the harmful effects of the smoke in the air – it can also get them hooked on cigarettes. A Concordia and University of Montreal study published in the Oxford journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, found that tweens who repeatedly observe a parent, sibling, friend or neighbur consuming cigarettes are more likely to start smoking themselves.

‘Kids who see others smoking are more likely to take up the habit because they don’t perceive cigarettes as unhealthy,’ says lead study author Simon Racicot, of Concordia University’s Department of Psychology.
‘We found that kids who’d never smoked who were exposed to tobacco use were more likely to hold positive beliefs about the killer habit. These are the kids who are more likely to start smoking as teenagers.’
This new investigation builds on previous studies examining the negative effects of being surrounded by smokers.
Senior author Jennifer J. McGrath, a professor in the Concordia University Department of Psychology said around 60 per cent of children are exposed to secondhand smoke across North America.
‘Greater exposure to smokers is largely associated with greater exposure to nicotine,’ she said.
‘Children exposed to the same amounts of secondhand smoke as adults absorb higher doses of nicotine.
‘Early findings suggest that secondhand smoke exposure could possibly trigger addiction in the brain – before kids actually start smoking themselves.’
For the study, 327 11-13 year olds enrolled in French-language public schools were questioned about their smoking habits, the number of smokers in their entourage and the situations where they observed smoking.
‘Preteens who were surrounded by more smokers believed that there are greater advantages to smoking,’ says Racicot.
‘Therefore, smoking by parents, siblings, and friends increases risk factors for later smoking.’
The researchers argue that new prevention efforts must be tailored to children who are highly exposed to secondhand smoke – ensuring they are aware of the risks.
The general public also needs to be informed about how smoking around youth normalizes the dangerous habit.
‘When it comes to smoking around kids, the best thing a parent can do is to avoid exposing their kids to cigarettes and to secondhand smoke,’ says Racicot.
‘A parent should step outside of their home or car to smoke. And the addictive habit should remain out of sight, out of breath and out of mind.’