ACT: Association for Contract Textiles

Cited: New York Times

Millions of smokers have tried nicotine gum and skin patches to help them kick the habit, but a recent study indicates that neither may be effective long term and in fact, they may backfire. According to the most rigorous long-term research into both therapies, there may be little benefit to these approaches to quitting smoking. The study, published Monday in the journal Tobacco Control, included more than 800 people who have been trying to quit smoking for several years.

Medical studies in the past have shown the products to be effective at making it easier for people to stop smoking but only in the short term.  These earlier studies were the basis for government endorsements for using these products to help smokers rid themselves of this particular addiction. However, new surveys of smokers that have used nicotine gum and skin patches indicate that these previously highly regarded products had no benefit toward their ability to kick the habit.

This will come as something of a shock and perhaps a setback to those that sell and market these products since in recent years the sales of both have risen by more than $800 million a year in 2007 from $129 million in 1991. Over-the-counter sales for both products were approved in 1997, and in  many states Medicare programs will cover the cost.

Some experts were not surprised at the results of the survey citing the haphazard way that smokers use the products and that both need to be used in conjunction with other treatments.

The new study was conducted in Massachusetts, where researchers followed 1,916 adults, many of which said that they had recently quit smoking. The participants were interviewed three times, once every two years, asking them about their use of gum and skin patches and the frequency of their smoking, and quitting.

At every interview, about 33% of those who were trying to quit had relapsed. The use of nicotine gum or a skin patch made no difference even when the participants took the products correctly, following the instructions to the letter. One group of heavy smokers who used these products without the help of a therapist or counselor, was shown to be twice as likely to relapse as heavy smokers that didn’t use these products.

At the end of the day, researches conclude that while these products do seem to help people quit, they aren’t enough to prevent relapses in the long-term.

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My Take:

Once again smoking shows itself to be one of the hardest habits to break, even with the help of products previously believed to be of the greatest benefit. Perhaps lawmakers should take another look at the tobacco companies and see if what they put into these products makes them so addicting that people just don’t have a chance to rid themselves of this deadly addiction.

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