Slashdot Mirror
Human Trials Of Anti-Smoking Vaccine Begin
Makarand writes "A Nicotine
vaccine that may help smokers to quit
has made it to human trials.
The vaccine is administered as a series of eight shots --
patients receive two shots per visit during four different visits. The vaccine works by
stimulating the human immune system to produce antibodies that
bind with the nicotine molecules
to form a larger complex molecule which
cannot pass through the blood/brain barrier to get
into the brain. As a result smokers
will not feel the 'high' from the cigarettes they light up and lose interest in smoking.
Preliminary studies have shown that this vaccine is safe in humans." (Each link goes to a slightly different version of the same wire story.)
Maybe this could be used to treat physical addiction, but I don't see how it would help psychological addiction. You can become clinically addicted to something without your body being dependent on the substance; you just feel an uncontrolable urge to smoke, not for the high feeling, but just because you always smoke on the way to work, always smoke at parties, etc.
Seriously, people are going to get cold feet after a visit or two to the doctor when they're starting to really feel the pull of addiction, and realize that they are permanently destroying their ability to get a fix.
They need to get this vaccine down to something that can be administered in one visit, so people don't have a chance to get cold feet after the begining.
If they can make this something joe six-pack-a-day can just do one afternoon on an impulse, then I'll be really impressed.
Of course, then how long will it be until cigarette companies come out with anti-vacine cigs?
"The worst tyrannies were the ones where a governance required its own logic on every embedded node." - Vernor Vinge
I have to admit that I have been smoking for the past 9 years. Considering that I'm only 24 years old, that's a very long time. I've tried quitting cold turkey, I've tried the patch, the gum, and they all worked up to a point. Every time I tried quitting smoking, I stopped for a few days, but afterwards, I just had to start again. It wasn't the addiction that much, but simply the fact that I enjoy smoking too much.
Before I get all the replies describing all the side effects of smoking, you should know that I can do 150 push-ups every day, I can ride a bicycle for 30kms in about an hour through Toronto (which has its share of hills). So I'm still pretty healthy. When I'll get older this won't be the case anymore, but that's still a way off, so it doesn't feel like such a threat.
I guess this vaccine might work for me. If I can't derive pleasure from smoking, then I might have a chance of quitting. Because my willpower in this respect sure isn't helping.
...your kids will have to be vaccinated against drugs before entering public schools.
...and the evidence I see is abundantly clear! I see the byproducts of their pleasure all over the place, from the packages to the butts. I see little piles of butts at traffic intersections and in parking lots where these people choose to empty their ashtrays. I see people tossing their still-lit butts out of car windows. (A good friend of mine lost his truck to fire when one of these hit his hay-bale laden truck at highway speed, burning it to the ground in minutes.)
If you don't have to put up with this trash all over the place, then consider yourself lucky. It's a part of daily existence where I am. despite fairly and increasingly stringent anti-smoking regulations.
Ever notice what happens when a whiner opens their mouth? The first thing out of it is a bitch session about how someone else is screwing up their life. Once the stop frothing at the mouth about that, they have to start rebutting others. Then, they whine about getting modded down on Slashdot. In other words, whiners are some of the most sociopathic assholes on the planet! Ever have a look at the social habits of whiners? They empty a bar in no time. They don't need to go out because everyone hates them already, but they do anyway, just to make others unhappy.
Fucking assholes! These people don't need a vaccine to deal with their whining problem. They need a simple boot in the ass, or several hundred as the case may be, to teach them a much needed lesson about simple politeness and courtesy! All before getting into the usual controversies about what impact whining has on the economy, or how it kills kittens.
I forget what 8 was for.
A friend of mine was smoking American Spirit's. They advertise themselves as having no added chemicals and just being "pure" tobacco. It's well known that brands like Camel and Marlboro put added chemicals in their smokes, for whatever reason. Apparently a good amount of the addiction in these brands comes from some of the added chemicals, not just the nicotine.
Anyway, my friend said that as soon as she switched to American Spirit, she just didn't feel the need to smoke as much and the though of it kind of disgusted her. So I switched too.
After about a month, the very thought of smoking just disgusted me to the point where I stopped doing it. I started smoking their strongest ones, of which I could only finish about half a cigarette, then went to the medium, then their ultra-lights.
It's ironic using cigarettes to quit smoking, but it worked for me. The only side-effects I've had is that I feel much better. The smell of smoke in bars even disgusts me now.