Reducing Nicotine in Cigarettes Is an Extremely Bad Idea

Janitor's view ^ | 04/04/18 | Reasonmclucus

[kathsua]

The Food and Drug Administration's proposal to gradually reduce nicotine levels in tobacco to discourage smoking is an extremely bad idea which won't help anyone and could hurt some. Smoking may appear unattractive to non-smokers, but smokers may be doing what is best for someone with their genetic brain structure.

I have never had any connection to the tobacco industry. I have never smoked, owned any tobacco company assets or worked in a facility that sold tobacco products. People I cared about have died from medical conditions associated with tobacco use.

On a personal level I don't understand how people can enjoy smoking, but then smokers might not understand why I like jalapeno slices in my breakfast eggs.

Unlike anti-tobacco fanatics I understand that differences in our brain genes can cause us to march to the beats of different drummers. One of the most important differences involves the Dopamine Receptor gene DR4 which some call the risk taker gene because those with a certain form of the gene are more prone to risk taking. Those with the risk taker form of the gene need a greater level of excitement possibly because they have more receptors for the neurotransmitter dopamine.

The risk taker gene is essential in hunter / warrior societies because male members of the society must be willing to face danger to feed and protect other members of the society. The risk taker gene may also affect decisions to move to another country or to the American frontier.

The people who attempt to discourage young people from smoking don't recognize that their publicity campaign may actually be encouraging young risk takers to try smoking. Potentially dangerous activities appeal to those with the risk taker gene because doing something dangerous is exciting. Surviving doing something dangerous provides a feeling of accomplishment. Telling young risk takers that smoking is dangerous makes smoking an attractive activity.

Those with the risk taker gene are prone to alcoholism and drug addiction indicating they may need a chemical stimulation for their DR4 receptors. Fortunately there is another chemical that can provide this stimulation. Nicotine can provide an alternate chemical for at least some of those with the risk taker gene without the dangerous side effects of alcohol or drugs. Users of alcohol or drugs can lose control of their behavior Smokers retain control over their behavior.

The conventional view is that nicotine independently causes people to become addicted to it. The reality might be more complicated. Some people may have a need for special chemicals that have a certain impact on their well being. We all are "addicted to" some chemicals such as vitamins. It might be that people with the risk taker gene have more specialized needs.

This post is too short to provide definitive answers, but it could provide a guide for additional research into the possibility that for those with the risk taker gene smoking might be a beneficial activity. The potential heath threat is less than the threat posed by a high fat diet or drinking and driving. Smokers generally live long enough to retire Incidentally, I recently saw an ad indicating some lawyers believe that many lung cancers blamed on smoking might actually be the result of asbestos exposure.

[kathsua]

I wonder how the tobacco farmers who helped fond our nation who say about attacks on smokers. I don't smoke, but I let my friends smoke in my home.

[Delta 21]

Lung cancers associated with asbestos exposure are documented in the extreme and leave very tell-tale signs. Mesothelioma is very well understood as to its cause and final diagnosis. Lawyers clamoring for infinite $$ out of a pie that they know is only so big.

As for smoking in my house. I grew up with chain smoking parents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, everyboby smoked in the 70s except the kids. And some of them did too. Granny D-21 chewed snuff and carried her own spittoon! EVERYONE takes that ALL of that crap outside!

[who_would_fardels_bear]

If someone requires a certain amount of nicotine on a daily basis to stabilize their mood, adjust their brain chemistry, etc. then putting less nicotine in each cigarette just means they will have to smoke more cigarettes.

The primary hazard of cigarettes comes from breathing in the burning tobacco and not from the nicotine itself.

So this will backfire: smokers will have to smoke more cigarettes, thus potentially irritating more whiny non-smokers, and putting more gunk in their lungs.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

All it’s going to do is make people smoke more to compensate which is probably the real reason they are doing this.

[Bob434]

[[On a personal level I don’t understand how people can enjoy smoking]]

They enjoy it because it releases dopamine or endorphines or something like that which gives a slight euphoric feeling- and it’s calming

But of course a person can live without this feeling- but smokers come to rely on it and dread quitting- so they don’t quit-

Anyone considering quitting smoking- Tell yourself over and over while quitting that it’s no worse than having the flu- a bad flu of course- but we’ve all had flus and gotten through them just fine- you can endure quitting just as successfully by telling yourself it’s just a bad flu- Take a few days off from work and sleep a lot- cravings usually only last for 1/2 minute or so- you can get through them

Also, for every hour that goes by- tell yourself- convince yourself, that you are NOT going to waste the last few hours of hell you just went through by smoking a cigg- this is what gave me the incentive to keep going through the next few cravings- I didn’t want the hours I spent cigg free to have been done in vain

Also tell yourself that the major health benefits will start kicking in in a few days- and take the money you would have spent on ciggs, and treat yourself to something nice at the end of your cigg free week if you can make it that far-

Good luck to you- remember- it’s no worse than suffering through a bad flu- You’re strong enough to weather a flu for a week or more- so you can weather quitting too! :)

[Drew68]

Too many people have quit smoking (including myself), not enough people are starting. The countless programs funded by the tobacco tax windfall (originally intended only to pay for smoking-related medical expenses) are scrambling for cash.

Smoking in America today is almost exclusively a habit of the poor.

[cgbg]

Here is the list of non-nicotine chemicals in cigarettes:

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/tobacco-and-cancer/carcinogens-found-in-tobacco-products.html

Reducing nicotine in cigarettes is like suppressing sniper fire while bombs are dropping on you. :-)

[FredZarguna]

Bad analogy. Reducing nicotine in cigarettes is like hiding from small arms fire miles away when someone is detonating a nuclear weapon overhead.

Despite what some of the anti-smoking zealots of FR will tell you, nicotine is not very toxic, and not very harmful except for the addictive effect, which, as this article states, is probably more complicated than people think.

We should not be reducing the nicotine in cigarettes--it will make smokers smoke more, not less. We should also not be discouraging people from using vaping and other nictotine delivery systems that are far less harmful than inhaling burning tobacco.

[octex]

Like. Thumbs up!

[Candor7]

Well written,ucid artcle. You will notice that the left that destroyed the domestic tobacco industry has no problem with exporting tobacco products abroad.

Someone should be suggesting that the tobacco taxes be lowered in every state.It would be good federal law under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.

[LukeL]

That list is very misleading. Lead, arsenic, and uranium are found in the soil and will be in trace amounts in many foods we eat. Other chemicals listed are the products of combustion and are also found in grilled foods. Ammonia is naturally found in your body and forms from the breakdown of urea a component of urine.

[kelly4c]

I quit around 12 years ago. Have been addicted to nicotine gum. When I came down with stomach flu and didn’t have a piece all day when it was time to sleep I had not just restless leg, but restless body syndrome. Literally could not stop moving. Wondered what the heck was wrong until it dawned on me about 5 minutes later. Popped in a piece of gum and all was normal. Ugh. I hate that I have to have this stuff. Traded one dependency for another. But hey, at least I don’t have to make the 3 block trek to smoking area like some of my coworkers.

[kelly4c]

Very good advice:) One minute at a time, then hour, then day etc. Once you’ve racked quite a few days up you’ll realize how much easier each day/week becomes and would not want to go back to square one, all that hard work for nothing and have to start over. Nope. It’s what kept me going those first couple years, and it was enough.

[raybbr]

Not a shred of evidence supplied for this ridiculous article.

“is essential in hunter / warrior societies” so they need to smoke - LOL

[I want the USA back]

Bull$hit. Warning someone of a danger is the right thing to do. The person who warns bears no responsibility for the risk taker acting irrationally.
Ever see a sign telling people to not swim because of sharks? Or not to ski because of the possibility of avalanches? or not to walk on the ice, etc.

[HarleyD]

Meanwhile the government is trying to legalize pot smoking. Yet no one talks about the effects pot has to the body. It’s all a scam that ranks up there next to climate change.

[Right Wing Assault]

My parents both smoked for probably 40 years. Growing up I hated the smell of smoke, especially when in a car with both smoking. I puked a lot. I hated the smell of houses where people smoke. As a kid back in the 50s I made so many cigarette runs for them to the drug store down the street that I didn't even need a note from my parents to buy them.

Only after health problems caught up with them did they finally stop. My father did it cold turkey and never went back. He liked his beer, but he stopped that cold turkey, too, and never went back. My mother took several years, but she finally stopped and never went back. Neither of them showed any other risktaking behavior. Neither were miserable to live with after they stopped.

None of my grandparents smoked. I had two uncles our of many who smoked. None of my siblings smoked. None of my parents grandchildren smoked. None of their grandchildren smoke. None showed any risktaking behavior. None have alcohol or drug problems. I don't have any friends who smoke.

Maybe there is some risktaking gene but I don't see the connection with years of smoking by my parents.

[euram]

I smoked for 40+ years. From time to time, I would try the “lights” and would end up smoking twice as many of them, so I always returned to the regulars. I haven’t smoked now for 31 months, and even after so long, it’s always a temptation to start up again.

[AppyPappy]

It’s big in the fraternity scene. Everyone vapes or smokes.

[BuffaloJack]

A half dozen years back, I was surprised to discover that nicotine, although addicting, isn’t the primary carcinogen in tobacco smoke. It’s uranium and thorium from the A-bomb testing in the 40s and 50s.
Evidently the tobacco plant has a remarkable ability to scavenge uranium and thorium and a few other heavy metal isotopes and concentrate them. When you smoke, you get exposure similar to having an x-ray.
I was also surprised to learn that there are areas of eastern Europe that are devoid of these materials and tobacco grown there, although addicting, doesn’t have these radioisotopes.