Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New Nicotine Vaccine May Succeed Where Others Have Failed

Posted by Soulskill on from the willpower-also-an-effective-vaccine dept.

Zothecula writes: If you're a smoker who's trying to quit, you may recall hearing about vaccines designed to cause the body's immune system to treat nicotine like a foreign invader, producing antibodies that trap and remove it before it's able to reach receptors in the brain. It's a fascinating idea, but according to scientists at California's Scripps Research Institute, a recent high-profile attempt had a major flaw. They claim to have overcome that problem (abstract), and are now developing a vaccine of their own that they believe should be more effective.

6 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Why would you want this? by russotto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You'd still be an addict, just one who could never satisfy his cravings. This sounds more like some sort of torture that an aid to quitting.

    1. Re:Why would you want this? by morcego · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The numbers on people who try to quit and fail are scary. The numbers of people who quit and start smoking again within the first 2 years are also telling.

      What I find even more strange is how many people I've known who knew full well that it was bad prior to even starting, and then started anyways. I've asked them why they did that, and the answers range from "it's so that you have something to do when you're with your friends" to "well I figured it would be good for me so long as I used a natural brand." (By natural, they mean those packs you can buy on the Indian reservations that are supposedly grown and made locally by the natives.)

      You are absolutely correct. Even when I started smoking (1991-92), it was already a stupid decision. I knew all the problems. In my case, I was depressed at the time, and maybe (not sure) in a self destructive mood. I knew how stupid I was acting, but did it anyway.

      It is scary how many people still make apologies for smoking, or say that this or that isn't "that bad" or "bad at all".

      --
      morcego
    2. Re:Why would you want this? by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People always know that drugs are bad for them. Do you think there is still one single heroin junkie who didn't know that heroin is going to kill them when they started taking it?

      People don't care about this when they start reaching for drugs. If we really wanted to prevent drug abuse we should first and foremost ask why people reach for them. It sure as hell ain't that they don't know what they're doing. They know what they're doing. They know full well what they're doing. A friend of mine is working in Russia with addicts (as a nurse) and you don't even WANT to know what kind of shit they pump into their body. It literally rots them from the inside. And I mean literally. And they DO know that this WILL happen. Not that there is the danger, or there is a chance. They KNOW that it WILL happen and still they do it.

      If you want to fight drugs, start at the reason instead of the drug.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. Re:Required vaccine? by gatfirls · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Your thought process is scary at a minimum. It does give some insight into how horrible ideas take root once you demonize something/someone though.

  3. Re:Is there something wrong with me that .,.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While were at it, we shouldn't support programs like weight watchers, or help people get started on exercise routines. Everyone should figure everything out for themselves without any outside aid whatsoever. Accepting help from other people or tools is a sign of weakness.

  4. Re:what the vaccine actually do? by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, if you walked up to a smoker and vaccinated them like this ... they would still be addicted, and have no way of alleviating that.

    As an ex-smoker, had someone done that to me, I might have had to kill them

    Quitting smoking is hard, is sucks, and it takes months if not years for the craving to go away. The smallest thing can make you go back to wanting one.

    The ability to get nicotine from an alternate source than smoking is not something to be underestimated, and for many of us is the only way we can really quit.

    I rank this about as good as locking someone in a room and waiting for the screaming to stop. It's simply doing nothing at all about the fact that your brain and body are still going "where is it? how about now? can we have some? what about now? Why isn't there any? How do we get some? WHY can't we have any?"

    A smoker on forced cold turkey quitting is NOT a person you want to be around.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.