What's that? The Best Natural Method to Stop Smoking in 2015 is 14AndOut, but the CDC won't tell anybody
According
to ABC
News, scientists say the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should
take warnings about the stop-smoking drug Chantix up a notch, citing data
showing that the drug increases suicidal behavior and depression far more than
other drugs and methods designed to help smokers quit.
Chantix,
also called varenicline, has been hotly debated since 2007, when experts first
raised questions about the long-term safety of the drug and its connection to
cardiovascular problems and vision lapses. Since then, studies have reported
that patients taking Chantix are at increased risk of depression and suicidal
thoughts. Anecdotally, patients report wild dreams, inexplicable violent
behavior and other psychological disturbances while on the drug.
In
2009, the FDA placed a "black box" warning label on Chantix and
another drug, Zyban, cautioning doctors and patients about the risk of
depression, hostility and suicidal thoughts.
But
some researchers say these warnings don't go far enough. On November 3, 2011, a
study published in the journal PLOS ONE continued to sound the alarm
against Chantix and urged the FDA to update Chantix's warning label, saying the
psychological risks of the drug exceed those of nicotine replacement drugs or
even its competitor, Zyban.
Dr.
Curt Furberg, a professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest Baptist
Medical Center and one of the study's authors, said people trying to kick their
tobacco habit generally are at higher risk for psychological symptoms, but
Chantix makes them far worse.
For more information, log onto:
Tobacco
use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability and death in the
United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), cigarette smoking results in more than 480,000 premature deaths in the
United States each year—about 1 in every 5 U.S. deaths—and an additional 16
million people suffer with a serious illness caused by smoking. In fact, for
every one person who dies from smoking, about 30 more suffer from at least one
serious tobacco-related illness.
Electronic
cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are battery-powered devices that deliver nicotine
without any combustion or smoke. These devices have generated much publicity
among the smoking-cessation community and support from dedicated users;
however, little is known about the efficacy of the device as a
smoking-cessation tool.
The
primary finding of an online survey was that the 6-month point prevalence of
smoking abstinence among the e-cigarette users in the survey sample was 31.0%
(95% CI=24.8%, 37.2%). A large percentage of respondents reported a reduction
in the number of cigarettes they smoked (66.8%) and almost half reported
abstinence from smoking for a period of time (48.8%). Those respondents using
e-cigarettes more than 20 times per day had a quit rate of 70.0%. Of
respondents who were not smoking at 6 months, 34.3% were not using e-cigarettes
or any nicotine-containing products at the time.
To
see some fascinating and interesting clips regarding the truth about how one
can control and get rid of their smoking habits, one can easily log onto:
The
Best Natural Method to Stop Smoking is here:
Comments