Champix COP Out
WHO approves a tobacco cessation consortium and adds bupropion and varenicline to its essential medicines list in the run up to this week’s COP9
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by Dave Cross
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“The world continues to see a decline in the global number of tobacco users, marking important progress in the fight to protect people from the dangers of tobacco. But despite significant progress, many countries are still not adequately implementing policies to support tobacco users to quit,” says the WHO.
“To bridge this gap, WHO is working together with partners to support countries in scaling up tobacco cessation. The WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, welcomed the establishment of a global WHO Tobacco Cessation Consortium (The Consortium), a mechanism for engaging all relevant stakeholders including non-State Actors in the global effort to make comprehensive cessation support available to all.”
The WHO claims this is about promoting affordable evidence-based management and treatment services for tobacco dependence to countries – but they will not be advising people to follow the UK’s lead and embrace vaping.
Instead, the organisation has elevated bupropion and varenicline to its essential medicines list. Varenicline, also known as Champix, has proven itself to be a controversial approach to quitting smoking.
The WHO says: “Safe and effective medical treatments to help individuals quit tobacco are available, however they are not always sufficiently available or accessible.”
It believes the drugs are “proven to be safe and effective ways of quitting tobacco for users who are unable to quit using behavioural counselling or brief advice alone.”
What are the potential side effects acknowledged by the manufacturer of Champix?
Common or very common
- Appetite abnormal; asthenia; chest discomfort; constipation; diarrhoea; dizziness; drowsiness; dry mouth; gastrointestinal discomfort; gastrointestinal disorders; headache; joint disorders; muscle complaints; nausea; oral disorders; pain; skin reactions; sleep disorders; vomiting; weight increased
Uncommon
- Allergic rhinitis; anxiety; arrhythmias; behaviour abnormal; burping; conjunctivitis; depression; eye pain; fever; fungal infection; haemorrhage; hallucination; hot flush; hyperglycaemia; influenza like illness; malaise; menorrhagia; mood swings; numbness; palpitations; seizure; sexual dysfunction; suicidal ideation; sweat changes; thinking abnormal; tinnitus; tremor; urinary disorders
Rare or very rare
- Angioedema; bradyphrenia; coordination abnormal; costochondritis; cyst; diabetes mellitus; dysarthria; eye disorders; feeling cold; glycosuria; muscle tone increased; polydipsia; psychosis; scleral discolouration; severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs); snoring; vaginal discharge; vision disorders
The problem goes beyond the list of side effects that outstrip anything resulting from vaping. The UK’s Department of Health and Social Care has warned that Champix is out of stock across the country – and will remain so “indefinitely”.
The Government was informed that N-nitroso-varenicline levels were in excess of the maximum legal level.
Pfizer has been subject to several ongoing global investigations since June due to the unacceptable level of nitrosamine impurities.
British pharmacists have been instructed to cease fulfilling Champix prescriptions and ordered to return all stocks of it to their suppliers.
It remains incredible that the WHO can throw its weight behind such a drug yet ignore all of the independent science supporting the use of electronic cigarettes.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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