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Stronger nicotine products needed for smokers10 October 2007
Nicotine replacement therapies should contain higher levels of nicotine and be more widely available to help heavy smokers kick the habit, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has said. The RCP reports that nicotine replacement products are more heavily regulated than cigarettes but should be as, or more, readily available and contain greater amounts of nicotine to help heavy smokers beat their addiction. Professor John Britton, Chair of the RCP Tobacco Advisory Group, believes it isn't nicotine in cigarette smoke that kills but the "hundreds of other toxic chemicals that come with it." He said: "At the moment, most of our efforts on smoking are aimed at preventing people from starting to smoke and helping smokers to quit completely. The best thing that a smoker can do for his or her health is to quit all smoking and nicotine use completely. However, there are millions of smokers who can't quit, or else who are unlikely to quit, and those people need nicotine products that can satisfy their addiction without killing them." Nicotine is highly addictive and this replacement approach has been used to treat other drug addictions by providing a safer "hit". "The UK is at the forefront of tobacco control policy" said Martin Dockrell, Policy Manager for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), "yet one in four adults still smoke even though almost three in four smokers want to quit." "If we are to reduce the continuing terrible toll of smoking related death and disease then we need to add new approaches to bolster those that are tried and true. This important report takes us a good way down that road." Related informationBack to the latest health news
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