For There is Nothing Covered, That Shall Not be Made Known, and Hid That Shall Not be Known
On May 12, 1994, a box filled with four thousand pages of internal documents from the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation appeared on the desk of Professor Stanton Grantz. Professor Grantz was a member of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco. The return address for the documents read only "Mr. Butts." These documents contained proof of what many people had speculated for years: Tobacco companies were intentionally withholding information from the public and the health community concerning the hazards of tobacco. Professor Grantz and his colleagues analyzed the documents and put their finding in a book titled The Cigarette Papers. In the book they said, "...overwhelming evidence of the irresponsible and deceptive manner in which B&W had conducted its tobacco business...For more than thirty years B&W has been well aware of the addictive nature of cigarettes, and in the course of those years it has also learned of numerous health dangers of smoking. Yet, throughout this period, it chose to protect its business interests instead of the public health by consistently denying any such knowledge and by hiding adverse scientific evidence from the government and the public, using a wide assortment of scientific, legal and political techniques.
The documents also demonstrate that B&W's conduct was representative of the tobacco industry generally. "B&W acted in concert with the other domestic tobacco companies on numerous projects, the most important of which were specifically designed to prevent, or at least delay, public knowledge of the health dangers of smoking and protect the tobacco companies from liability if that knowledge became public."
Patrick Reynolds, the grandson of R.J. Reynolds became an anti-tobacco advocate rather than following in his grandfather's footsteps and working in the tobacco industry. Patrick Reynolds wrote a book The Gilded Leaf that documents much of the history of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Patrick Reynolds writes: "For many years before 1911, R.J. had believed cigarettes were harmful to health; in particular, that the paper wrapper caused problems when it burned. Others in the company thought this was nonsense and cited the public's obvious appetite for cigarettes as reason enough to manufacture them."
For years, tobacco companies have produced products that are bad for people's health just to make big money. In his book Smoke Screen, Philip Hilts documented that in the 1940s tobacco industry representatives ordered tests to see how toxic tobacco smoke was. One test was the action of putting a single drop of extract in a rabbit's eye. About this test, Mr. Hilts wrote: "He had to stop the project after finding that single drop was so toxic that it caused massive sores and the complete loss of the eye. He said it was the most toxic substance he had ever seen."
The deception of tobacco companies is far and wide. The practice of using tobacco is bad enough but a Christian should be ashamed to do business with an industry that is one of the most deceptive and fraudulent entities to ever exist.
"Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips." (Prov. 24:28). " Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2 Thess. 2:9,10). "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." (Ps. 24:3-5).
And to add, tobacco companies targeting youth is a very ungodly act. The tobacco industry is ruing the lives of young people by getting them to start using products that will destroy their health and cost them financially. "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." (Ps. 127:3). "And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant." (Gen. 33:5).
All the class action lawsuits, the increasing outcry of the public and the ongoing health regulations of the 1990s finally influenced the FDA and federal government to take action toward tobacco. Up until the 1990s, tobacco had been exempt from all FDA regulations as it wasn't considered a food or a drug. Also tobacco had been on the market so long that it had "grandfather" status which protected it from regulation. The "Wall Street Journal" commented: "A product believed to be responsible for 425,000 deaths each year got less government oversight of its content and marketing then [did] ice cream." FDA commissioner David Kessler added stern disapproval, "This epidemic of youth addiction has enormous public consequences. A casual decision at a young age to use tobacco products leads all too often to addiction, serious disease and premature death as an adult."
The FDA began scripting regulation to govern the production and marketing of tobacco products. This led to the ban of tobacco in vending machines and the distribution of free samples. No tobacco brand was to be printed on clothing or other items that were attractive to teenagers.
The FDA rule was approved by President Bill Clinton on August 23, 1996. The Campaign For Tobacco Free Kids called the new law "The first meaningful national policy in history to limit kids' access to tobacco and prevent the tobacco industry from marketing it's deadly products to our children."
Unsurprisingly, the new FDA rule was immediately challenged by tobacco companies. For more then a decade the FDA and tobacco industry fought. Finally on June 22, 2009 the FDA was given authority over the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of all tobacco products.
Overcoming Tobacco Addiction
The biggest obstacle to quitting tobacco is nicotine addiction. Nicotine replacement therapy are products that were intentionally created to help people quit smoking and relieve symptoms of withdrawal. Nicotine replacement therapy consists of the nicotine patch, gum and nasal spray.
Nicotine replacement therapy begins when smoking, dipping or chewing stops. A person can't use tobacco and nicotine patches, gum or spray at the same time. Using tobacco and nicotine replacement at the same time could place dangerously high levels of nicotine in one's body. Nicotine replacement products give a person a measured dose of nicotine, reducing the nicotine in stages through a particular standard of time.
According to a 2000 National Health Interview Survey, 90.4% of smokers preferred to quit cold turkey but less than 10% of smokers were able to quit cold turkey. Two of the least preferred methods of quitting were the most successful. Nasal spray was preferred by absolutely no smokers but it had a 30.5% success rate. Nicotine gum had a 1.6% preference among smokers and was successful in 23.7% of its cases. The nicotine inhaler was preferred by less than 1% of smokers and had a 22.8% success rate. The nicotine patch was preferred by 4.2% of the smokers interviewed and successful with 17.7% of the users. 1.3% of the smokers preferred behavioral counseling and it had a 15% success rate.
These numbers show, that overall, nicotine replacement therapy is successful for slightly less than one-fourth of its users. Statistics have shown that smokers can increase their chances of being tobacco-free by getting counseling. Nicotine replacement isn't cheap. The products cost about the same as a pack of cigarettes.
The patch is officially known as the nicotine transdermal system. It is an adhesive bandage that contains nicotine. This nonprescription nicotine replacement gives the user nicotine through the skin. Some of the patches are designed to stay on for sixteen hours and come off at night. Others are worn for twenty-four hours and then replaced.
Possible side effects of the patch are headaches, dizziness, blurred vision and odd dreams. Many people experience itching, burning and redness on the skin beneath the patch which is why users must move the patch around. The full treatment lasts eight to ten weeks.
Nicotine gum is also a nonprescription nicotine replacement therapy. The gum delivers nicotine through the membranes of the mouth. Users of nicotine gum are to only chew the gum until a peppery taste or tingle is felt in the mouth. The chewer then "parks" the gum in one side of the mouth, between the gum and cheek. When the tingle fades, the user chews again, exposing a different part of the gum and relieving more nicotine.
One piece of gum should last around thirty minutes. When the user feels no more tingle in any part of the gum, the gum is to be discarded.
People using the gum follow a schedule. They usually chew a piece or two every one to two hours. In the event of a sudden craving for nicotine, a person may chew a piece to settle the craving. Users chew ten to fifteen pieces a day, a maximum of thirty pieces a day. After stabilizing for a month, users begin to reduce the amount of pieces until they have no more nicotine cravings. The treatment is designed to last for three months but some people use the gum up to a year.
Drawbacks to nicotine gum include a bad taste, aching jaws from constant chewing, a sore throat and sores in the throat and mouth. Swallowing nicotine can result in hiccups and an upset stomach. Drinking acidic beverages such as coffee, fruit juice and soda can affect how well the gum works by changing the chemical balance in the mouth.
When someone uses nasal spray as a nicotine replacement, they spray a controlled dose up each nostril. Nicotine is absorbed through the skin of the nasal membranes. The treatment comes in a pump bottle, containing about one hundred doses of nicotine in water-based solution. One dose is equivalent to the amount of nicotine in a cigarette. The nicotine spray is the fastest delivery system for nicotine replacement.
Those using nasal spray, spray once or twice each hour they are awake. Users may have an additional spray to fight a craving. A maximum of forty doses are allowed each day. Some users may feel a sting at first when using the spray. Other negative effects may include watery eyes, sneezing, coughing, nosebleeds, sudden rapid heartbeat and diarrhea. The spray is not recommended for people with nasal or sinus problems, asthma or allergies.
Nicotine spray can become addictive and is the hardest replacement therapy to stop. For these reasons, people need a physician's prescription to use it. the FDA (Food & Drug Administration), recommends that the spray be used for three to six months.
Another prescription nicotine replacement therapy is the nicotine inhaler. It is a tube with a nicotine cartridge inside. A user puffs on the tube, bringing nicotine into the mouth. Some smokers may prefer the inhaler because it resembles smoking. However, the nicotine inhaler is the most expensive form of nicotine replacement.
There is also nicotine replacement in the form of a lozenge. Nicotine lozenge is similar to cough drops. the user absorbs nicotine through the skin of the mouth. The product is used in a program that lasts twelve weeks. For the first six weeks, users take a lozenge every one to two hours. Throughout the next three weeks, they cut the dosage down to one lozenge every two to four hours. In the final three weeks, users take a lozenge eveyr four to eight hours.
In the twenty to thirty minutes it takes for the lozenge to dissolve, users move the product from side to side in the mouth. Users are not to chew on the lozenge or swallow it as it dissolves. People can buy lozenges without a prescription, but one must be at least eighteen years of age to purchase the product.
There is also a non-nicotine replacement therapy prescription drug. The medicine is Buproprion and was originally created to help people with depression. As an antidepressant, the durg is marketed under the brand name Welbutrin. It is known as Zyban when it is used as a smoking cessation medicine. The drug can be used along with a nicotine replacement therapy and the best results have come when users use both replacement therapies.
Some people also enlist the help of psychological treatment to quit smoking. The most common psychological methods are aversion therapy, operant strategies and hypnosis.
Aversion therapy is based on the idea that implanting an unpleasant experience will deter a person from a hobby or an action they do on a regular basis. For a tobacco user, aversion therapy tries to replace the pleasure of tobacco with an unpleasant sensation.
The unpleasant stimulus could be giving the smoker an electric shock when the user begins to put a cigarette in their mouth or the patient could try rapid smoking. The smoker tries to consume two cigarettes very quickly, puffing every few seconds. This is done to make the patient ill, in hopes he or she will get sick of smoking. Another form of aversion therapy is having the smoker take chemical or herbal preparations, which when combined with a cigarette create a very repugnant taste.
Operant strategies are treatments that help to restructure thoughts and change behavior. They are based on the idea that hobbies and viewpoints are learned and can be unlearned by obtaining new skills.
To end smoking, patients work with therapists to understand the situations that trigger tobacco use. They go over the "who, what and where" causes me to want tobacco. Does a particular person or group of people trigger nicotine? Does being in a cartoon place or social setting cause smoking, chewing or dipping?
After going over what triggers nictoine cravings, the user begins to reduce tobacco until they no longer crave it.
Hypnosis is a state of mind similar to sleep in which a person's ability to think consciously is weak, therefore the person is open to suggestions. When a person is in a hypnotic trance, directions about changing their behavior will have little resistance.
With a tobacco user, a hypnotherapist wills first try to find what triggers nicotine craving in the patient's life. Then the therapist will suggest alternative reaction to break the habit of tobacco.
As a Bible believer, I strongle oppose hypnosis as it is an occult practice. The term hypnosis comes from hypnos, the Greek god of sleep. The term hypnosis was conceived by James Braid, a nineteenth century British mesmerist.
Hypnosis is widely used to help people in health and psychology with things such as: tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse, pain relief, weight control, sleep therapy and self-improvement. Many people claim that hypnosis is innocent and useful but it can't be separated from its occult roots. Even today much hypnotic phenomena is classified as "spiritualists."
The Encyclpedia of New Age Beliefs describes: "Historically, hypnotism is typically associated with the occultist or psychic, the one who exercises power over things or persons, such as the shaman, magician, witch doctor, medium, witch, guru or yogi." A number of astrologers and occultists in the eighteenth century, led to occult movements taking shape in the nineteenth century.
Many support hypnotic therapy because "it works" but just because something works doesn't mean it's innocent. There are powers within man that can be manipulated and there are satanic powers. The magicians in Egypt were able to perform amazing acts and could duplicate divine miracles (Ex. 7:10-12, 19-22; 8:5-7).
The Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs further comments: "The danger of hypnotism is evident from the fact that it can produce a wide variety of occult phenomena, including past life experiences, multiple personalities, speaking in unkown languages, automatic writing, clairvoyance, telepathy, seizures, spirit possession, astral projection and psychic diagnosis." The Encyclopedia goes on to say, "...there are thousands of victims today who because of hypnotic regression only think that they were subject to sexual or satanic abuse as children. This has resulted in great tragedies, including ruined families (where parents were the alleged abusers or Satanists) and patients who committed suicide. Because thousands of families have been torn apart by things like this, a national organization has been formed specifically to draw attention to the problem and to help victims of what is termed the false memory syndrome."
Seeing that hypnosis is so closely associated with the occult and communication with the spiritual realm, it is forbidden in scripture. "Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God." (Lev. 19:31). "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee." (Deut. 18:10-12). The Bible warns that demons transfrom themselves into angels of light (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
I have no issues with people using nicotine replacement therapy to aid them in quitting tobacco but the greatest help with tobacco cessation will be reliance upon the help of God! "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. 4:16). A life of prayer is obligatory to quitting an addiction.
"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." (John 15:7). One must also abide in the word of God if they want victory over tobacco. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." (Ps. 46:1). God is our refuge and strength when we aim to cease unhealthy habits.
At least 99% of tobacco users who attempt to quit will have withdrawal symptoms (possibly all of them). The human body learns to live with a certain dosage of nicotine. This is commonly called "chemical dependency." The body needs more and more of the substance to feel normal.
Nicotine stimulates the brain's pleasure centers. When this pleasure ceases to exist the body aches for it. People who manage stress with nicotine will have very aggravating withdrawal symptoms. They will likely feel anxious and irritated when they are not able to endure stressful times with nicotine. They will probably have a harder time thinking and concentrating. Some individuals compare losing tobacco to losing a good friend therefore they feel sad and depressed.
Nicotine is also a natural appetite suppressant. Thus, many tobacco users feel hungrier than they did when they were smoking, chewing or dipping. Most men gain around five pounds when they quit tobacco and women gain around ten pounds.
Some who quit tobacco have a sudden loss of energy as well. Nicotine stimulates production of the hormone epinephrine, a chemical that revs up the body. When a body is initially without nicotine, it will probably feel fatigued.
People also may have coughs, runny noses and sore throat when they quit the habit of smoking. When a person smoked their body had to create more mucus to carry away the smoke particles of nicotine, tar and other chemicals from cigarette smoke. It takes some time for the extra production to wind down. Often the body will have one last surge of mucus to clean the body of the irritants of tobacco smoke.
Other physical symptoms of tobacco withdrawal include headaches, dizziness and tingling in the hands and feet. These symptoms signify that the cardiovascular system is recovering from the effects of nicotine.
From the smoker's point of view the worst symptom will be powerful attacks of craving for nicotine. During this time, the former smoker needs to completely rely on the Lord. "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." (Ps. 23:1). Know that God is your shepherd and you don't really want anything other then His holiness. "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." (1 Pet. 1:16). "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Php. 4:13). Through Christ's strength you can get through the withdrawals and make tobacco a habit of the past. "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:4). The Holy Spirit that is in you is greater than anything the world has.
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." (James 1:13,14). Know that it isn't God tempting you but the lusts of the flesh and believers are not to give into the flesh. "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." (James 1:15). "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. 10:13). Continue to rely on God as He will always make a way out of temptation. With prayer and constant Bible study, your heart will remain on God and your flesh will be subdued.
If a person continues to fall back into tobacco and can't get the victory, he or she should consider fasting. "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." (Matt. 17:21). Some heavy problems and temptations require fasting. Fasting is a secret weapon believers have to get the victory in seemingly impossible situations. See Esther 4:10-5:3; Joel 2:12,13; Ezra 8:23.