FDA favors deadly drugs over safe alternatives
The FDA has finally acknowledged near 300 reports of suicide and attempted suicide that are linked to the smoking cessation drug Chantix. The FDA announcement is 2 years overdue. Chantix is a smoking cessation prescription medication marketed by Pfizer. Pfizer clearly states on their website “Some people have had changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions while using CHANTIX to help them quit smoking. Some people had these symptoms when they began taking CHANTIX, and others developed them after several weeks of treatment or after stopping CHANTIX.”1
Quitting smoking is difficult enough without the addition of mind altering drugs. There are alternatives to help you either quit smoking, or smoke a healthier alternative. The electronic cigarette could be your answer.
The electronic cigarette is considered a “harm reduction alternative”. The FDA has yet to prove electronic cigarettes as harmful, however they are using a fear campaign to sway public opinion of these potentially lifesaving devices. An electronic cigarettes, also known as an e-cigarette, is tobacco and tar free. An e-cigarette contains only 20 ingredients, none of which are carcinogenic. Regular cigarettes contain 4,000 chemicals, many of which have been proven to be toxic. The smoker draws on an e-cigarette, just like a regular cigarette. Inside is pure nicotine held in a suspension of food safe additives. The smoker inhales and blows out what looks like smoke, but is water vapor. The smoker controls how much or how little nicotine he or she inhales by buying various strengths of e-cigarette cartridges.
Gina King of www.e-cigarettedirect.com states that “sales have been increasing every month. Customers rave that the electronic cigarette has given them back their life, their sense of taste and their control. They don’t want mind-altering drugs. They want electronic cigarettes to stay legal!”
A growing number of tobacco scientists are questioning the FDA’s motives to try and ban electronic cigarettes. Dr. Michael Siegel notes that “unlike Chantix - for which there were many immediate post-marketing reports of potential adverse effects -- e-cigarettes have been on the market for more than three years and there have yet to be any severe adverse effects reported.”
Dr. Siegel also noted “We know that there is no evidence that anyone is dying from using electronic cigarettes, but we're going to take them off the market, even though they are helping people to quit smoking. That just doesn't make any sense,” Dr. Siegel said.
As the FDA review of the problems with Chantix has continued, the FDA states that it appears increasingly likely that there is an association between Chantix and serious neuropsychiatric symptoms.
So, if you want to curb your smoking habit, you have a choice: Mind-altering drugs or a safe alternative: The electronic cigarette.
Visit G. King's sites: E-Cigarette and electronic cigarette
