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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1988)
(i -aujBS /ie;s [[im ;i ji sb s>jooi ajnjnji aqj pus /ujsnpui Suoxjs A[[B3uojstq b si siqj_„ 'sAbs •adonis jo [[nj iuooj e ui si ja>(Ouisuou b uaq/v\„ sAbs qjiuis (i ‘papadsaj aq sjqSu spi jBq; SurpuBiuap 5un[ OOt 7 ^ aL Jl /° luaojad o/v^ ^nq ‘jayjoujs b ueij; ayovus ssaj saqjeajq (ja>joujsuou aqj) jayfoius AjBjunfOAUi suiy/oius tirti E»vAw»exir«H; <^>£ tV-xo V-»«iex\tVA risWs, t>x_it t<3>t>eioco is ex legexl procivjict. arid people sVioold t>e allowed to smoke, Fleming says. “There are a lot of anti-tobacco groups which we constantly battle,” Fleming says. “They put out a lot of misinformation. We have to work hard to make sure the industry is protected from legislation rushed through Congress without the facts. ” In September 1987, two important rulings were made in favor of the tobacco industries. The First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled that the federally mandated warnings on the packages protected Liggett and Myers from liability in the death of Joseph Palmer. His widow and mother sued the company after Palmer, a smoker j\_icicje decided tYisct /KrccrToar'Y ’Bveicvdss was not liadle for tVie deatVr of A.ndrew Stephen, who died of pulmonary heart disease after smoking for 54 years. The courts ruled that the federal law requiring the warnings on the packages protected the industries from a product-liability claim. Smith says it is “only a matter of time before they lose a major case for liability. ” David Fishel, vice president of public relations at R. J. Reynolds Nabisco says his company has made no significant changes in business in recent years. Although his company was not involved in the most recent cases, they “pay attention to all of them and defend ourselves to the best of our ability. sec a eV\enrvge arvyTVrrve soor\,” \F\sV\e\ says. Smith says the cancer, heart and. lung associations are trying to convince the young people not to start smoking. “That would cure the problem shortly and the tobacco companies realize that,” Smith says. “They are already reallocating their capital and making other investments. ” In 1985 Philip Morris purchased General Foods Corp. and RJR purchased Nabisco Brands, Inc. Moran says the tobacco industries doubt the prominant anti-smoking campaigns will affect their business, but whether they are investing because they are unsure of the future of their industry remains to be seen. Popular ways to stop smoking by Holly Becka If pretending to inhale from a plastic, smokeless cigarette substitute sounds like a great way for you to stop smoking, then checking out local drug stores could prove beneficial. The cigarette substitute is only one of the various products companies offer to customers who want to stop smoking. Among the available smoking deterrents in Bryan- College Station are Bantron, a smoking deterrent tablet; the Venturi 4-week system, which uses four filters to decrease the intake of nicotine and tar to eventually nothing; E-Z Quit, a plastic cigarette substitute which works by filling the tube with powder that tastes “menthol fresh” when puffed on; Sure Quit, a mouth spray that reacts with nicotine; and Ban Smoke chewing gum. Prices on the items range from $5 to $12. Ray Gaston, manager of Walgreen’s Drug Store in Post Oak Mall, says the Venturi system is a new product, but sales are slow. “The sales are pretty slow on the smoking deterrents, ” he says. “We’ve only sold three of the products this year. ” Jack Bender, pharmacist at Revco Discount Drugs in Bryan, says psychological factors have a lot to do with quitting. “No product will do it all for you, ” Bender says. “Most of it is psychological.” He says a person who wants to quit smoking has to have his mind set on it. The products serve only as reminders, not crutches. “Personally, I wouldn’t use the over-the-counter products. The best way is to go ‘cold turkey,’ ” Bender says. He says many of the products are sold, but usually don’t work. He says one helpful product though, is Nicorette gum, but has to be prescribed by a doctor. “I think the reason the prescription gum works is the price,” Bender says. “It’s very expensive-$22 for 96 tablets. The tablets get used quickly since you chew one whenever you would regularly smoke a cigarette. ” Walden Books in Post Oak Mall has many books and cassettes to help smokers quit their habit. The authors of these books sometimes are founders of programs like “Smokenders” and “Habit Breakers,” and offer helpful tips to “beat the hooks of smoking” and “deal with cigarette craving and withdrawl symptoms. Melanie Trostmann, a salesperson at Walden Books, says the subliminal persuasion “self-hypnosis” tapes were a big seller. The cassettes are advertised as “potentials unlimited” and have specially composed stereo music. “I have a couple of customers who swear by them, but I think most people just buy them to try them out, ” Trostmann says. “They might have doubts, but the hope they can quit smoking keeps them going. ” She says more tapes are sold than books because people can listen to them while they drive, sleep or do something else. Meanwhile, medical professionals are developing new technology for smoking cessation. In a Feb. 20, 1987 article in Hospitals, a transcranial electrotherapy technology (TCET) is described as “better than behavior modification, acupuncture, perhaps better than anything. ” TCET gives a patient electrical shocks through the ear lobes, in tiny voltages that can’t be felt. Hospitals says the brain responds to these shocks by producing “natural opiates that derail addiction, relax the patient and inhibit pain. ” The magazine says in one double-blind test (a test using people taking treatment and placebos) of 30 smokers treated twice a day with the therapy, only one has gone back to smoking to date. In a May 15,1987 article in Patient Care, Leonard G. Hudzinski, Ph.D., says with use of hospital programs, between 60 and 80 percent of patients are able to quit smoking. But after a year 70 percent are back to smoking, and after five years, 85 percent are smoking again. In the same article, Thomas Kotte, M.D., says the average patient tries to quit smoking three or four times before he succeeds. Scott & White Health Clinic in College Station has several types of health programs, including a several programs to help people stop smoking. Sally Scaggs, health education coordinator with Scott & White, says the program works through cooperation from the health education clinic and the psychiatry and psychology clinics. Scaggs says the one-to-one session is an individualized program that analyzes a patient’s personality and determines the best method for behavior change. “Different methods of quitting work for different personalities,” Scaggs says. “Some patients want ‘scare tactics,’ or pictures of diseased, blackened lungs, to help them quit. That won’t work for others. ” She says the program helps patients figure out temptations, and deal with coping. A Smoke Stoppers group session is another program offered through Scott & White. Scaggs says the program offers the support of a group in addition to information. “It’s a month long program,” she says. “Patients come to the group four days the first week, and then one time the last three weeks. The group offers strict information on health care and nutrition, since many people experience weight gain, exercise and stress reduction, plus the support of a group.” Jennifer Strayhom, the coordinator for Smoke Stoppers in Temple, says she feels the success rate of the program is high. “The program is taught in hopitals and medical centers, and is currently in use in 250 of them, ” she said. “In the first week of the program, 98 percent of the patients quit. A year later, 50 percent of them still weren’t smoking. The last program Scott & White offers is an individualized program with Dr. Jack Bodden, psychologist, and Dr. Steven Strawn, psychiatrist. Scaggs says their techniques include hypnosis and Nicorette gum. \ v:» v**-*-* xxV-t* \ safer cigarettes \ were developed, but never placed on market {AP) — The Liggett & Myers tobacco company developed a cigarette that nearly eliminated cancer in animal tests, but it was never placed on the market, according to a company researcher and a confidential document released Feb. 4 in court. Another document said Philip Morris Co. developed a plan in 1961 to reduce the cancerous effects of smoking. “A medically acceptable low- carcinogen cigarette may be possible, ” the document said. However, the plan was never implemented, said an attorney for a man suing three tobacco companies for his wife's lung cancer death after 40 years of smoking. The papers were placed in evidence in the federal liability trial of Morris, Licgett Group Inc. and 3-oriliard Inc., which 64-year-old Antonio Cipollone of Lakeburst says are liable in the death of his wife, Rose. Attorneys for Cipollone argue that the cigarette companies were negligent, in part, because they allegedly failed to do enough research on the risks of smoking, <ept quiet what they did do and failed to market a safer cigarette. The companies, which have never admitted a direct link between smoking and cancer, say Mrs. Cipollone chose to smoke knowing of the warnings. They also say such documents represent a selectively chosen handful from hundreds of thousands gathered in the case. Expert witness Dr. Jeffrey E. darns, a physician with a Ph.D. in economics, introduced the 1979 Jggett document as a corporate presentation he believed was made to foreign cigarette manufacturers. The document says the process ;or the “XA product” took 20 years and $14 million. Palladium metal and magnesium nitrate added to tobacco “reduced the incident of tumors on mouse skm by as much as 95 percent and the incidence of mouse skin cancers by as much as 00 percent” in tests, the document said. Harris said the cigarette was never marketed, and testified that according to statements to Cipolione’s lawyers by a Liggett researcher. Dr. James D. Mold, there was “no legitimate scientific reason” or the cigarette not to be marketed. Tobacco company officials have said the palladium cigarette was never sold because later tests didn’t match earlier results; because it didn’t taste good and, therefore, nobody would buy it; and because if ley tried to sell it saying it was realthier, government regulations would not have allowed that Marc Z. Edell, Cipolione’s attorney, has argued the product wasn’t sold because by marketing a safer cigarette, the tobacco companies would have in effect admitted they knew earlier versions were unhealthy. That would have eased the way for lawsuits, he said. Thursday, February 11,1988/At Ease/Page 11