Harm Reduction

As they consider the new bill that would give the FDA the power to regulate cigarettes, Congress needs to take into account new information on nicotine dependence. According to a recent study published in the July edition of The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, nicotine dependence can occur in young cigarette smokers long before they begin to smoke daily. The study examined 1,246 sixth-grade students at public schools in Massachusetts over a four-year period. Of those students, 217 reported inhaling cigarette smoke, with an average age of 12.8 years at first inhalation. They became the focus of the study because inhalation is necessary to deliver the nicotine that causes dependence.
A July 19, 2007 piece on ScienceBlogs.com by the blogger Orac criticized attacks on the Helena, MT study that implausibly claimed smoking bans cause immediate heart attack reductions. As it noted, we had a lot to do with the wave of criticism: Some of these rants linked to an article published on the ACSH website by Michael J. McFadden and David W. Kuneman a week ago...
A July 18, 2007 piece notes a skeptical HealthFactsAndFears.com piece about the benefits of smoking bans and, while downplaying ACSH's constant warnings about the dangers of smoking, also says: The ACSH has been willing to take a controversial position on the ETS issue in the past, hotly contesting Mayor Bloomberg's claim of New York's ban saving thousands of lives. ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan has stated, "Our best estimate of the number of deaths prevented is somewhere between zero and a hypothetical ten to fifteen. There is no evidence that any New Yorker -- patron or employee -- has ever died as a result of exposure to smoke in a bar or restaurant."
This piece originally appeared on June 20, 2007 on HuffingtonPost.com: The Vatican's "Ten Commandments" for drivers is pretty unusual. And while it will no doubt be fodder for late-night TV, it has some good messages about road rage and being careful. The commandments, predictably enough, also warn that a car can be an "occasion of sin," and I don't think they are referring to rolling through stop signs. But for the most part, the directive is meant to encourage safer driving. For instance, drinking and driving is a no-no. And road rage is sinful. This is good. Perhaps even progressive.
A Lancet article by Carol E. Gartner et al published online on May 10, 2007 cited the ACSH study "Tobacco Harm Reduction," which in turn appeared in Harm Reduction Journal (2006;3:37) and was the basis of ACSH's booklet on smokeless tobacco as harm reduction. The Lancet article concludes:
Many smokers are unable to quit smoking through complete nicotine and tobacco abstinence, and conventional quit-smoking programs generally present smokers with two unpleasant alternatives: quit or die.
New York, NY -- May 1, 2007. The public health establishment has misled smokers about the benefits and risks of using smokeless tobacco as a method of quitting cigarettes. That's one conclusion of a new pamphlet, What's the Story? Smokeless Tobacco as Harm Reduction for Smokers, created by physicians and scientists associated with the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH).
A March 13, 2007 piece, explaining why tobacco stocks appear to be benefiting from impending FDA regulation of cigarettes, quotes ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross on the status quo-enhancing tendencies of regulation, especially the sort that limits new advertising: Let's explain what's going on here. First, the Kennedy bill (co-sponsored by Texas Republican John Cornyn) specifically prohibits the FDA from banning tobacco products, so some in the industry feel this gives the Marlboro Man and the Camel brand a new lease on life.
No scientists are immune from accusations that they are too close to industry these days, not even recently-deceased ACSH Advisor Sir Richard Doll, despite his pioneering work demonstrating the terrible cancer toll of cigarettes. Luckily, other eminent scientists sprang to his defense in letters to the London Times printed December 9, 2006: From Professor Colin Blakemore et al
A November 22, 2006 piece by S. Fred Singer in the Financial Post notes the author's ACSH Advisor status and his impatience with the misuse of science, even in a good cause: I hate tobacco smoke and sit on the board of the anti-smoking American Council on Science and Health. But I don't tolerate the misuse of science, even by anti-smokers. So I gladly assented when, more than a decade ago, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institute asked me to serve as a consultant for a couple of months to review and contribute to a report on misuse of science in environmental policies.
A November 1, 2006 piece by Anita Srikameswaran notes ACSH's position on the potential use of smokeless tobacco as a harm reduction method: According to the American Council on Science and Health, encouraging cigarette smokers to switch to chew, particularly products that contain low levels of cancer-causing nitrosamines, could substantially reduce health costs and the incidence of both lung and heart disease.
An article on flu in the November issue of Fitness quoted ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross on one highly useful flu-fighting step: DON'T SMOKE. "People who light up are much more susceptible to the flu," explains Gilbert Ross, M.D., executive and medical director of the American Council on Science and Health in New York City. That's because smoking impedes the body's ability to fight off infection.