Big T Gum Launch Sparks Nicotine Debate
Reynolds American’s launch of Zonnic nicotine replacement gum has opened up further debate.
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by Dave Cross
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This is the first time a tobacco company has managed to obtain a licence for a stop-smoking aid from the FDA. Zonnic nicotine replacement gum enters a market that has previously been the sole preserve of the pharmaceutical industry. The market has been declining, especially following the boom in vaping, and prompted Big P to attack any quit product they deemed as becoming successful.
Consumers and the general public have become confused over the actual danger posed by nicotine due to the vicious smears emanating from Pharma-funded ‘researchers’. People link nicotine to smoking and blame the chemical for the problems that are actually caused by by-products from the burning tobacco leaves.
Karen Gerlach led a study looking into the misconceptions held by members of the public. From a sample of 1,736 adults, the research discovered that only 85% of people knew nicotine caused smoking addiction, but a frightening 53% blamed nicotine for the development of smoking-related cancer. Plus, depressingly, only a third of those responding thought that vaping was less harmful than smoking.
Gerlach said: “It’s troubling that adults’ misperceptions about the health effects of nicotine persist despite the long-term availability of FDA-approved over-the-counter NRT products.”
Dr. John Spangler is a professor at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre. He said: “I face this misconception about nicotine virtually every day in clinic. Nicotine is pretty safe for the vast majority of patients except for pregnant women, adolescents and ill patients with unstable heart disease.”
John Pinney, chief executive of PinneyAssociates, commented: “We’ve got a lot of people who I believe probably need nicotine for the rest of their lives and the goal here would be if that’s the case then let’s get them a product that’s not going to kill them.”
Brad Rodu is a professor of medicine in Louisville and has been a strong supporter of vaping as a smoking harm reduction tool. He is very concerned about, what he calls, “the demonization” of nicotine. “The misconception about it has come from … its conflation with smoking by governmental authorities and major health organizations. The FDA, since 2009, has had regulatory authority over both tobacco and pharmaceutical nicotine. It could have served as an educational resource for correcting misperceptions about the health effects of nicotine - It has done nothing.”
Photo Credit:
Zonnic gum courtesy of Reynolds American
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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