Summary Note-taking CH1
7/4/08
1:38 pm
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N O T E–-TA K I N G 72 Read the article about a vaccine to discourage cigarette smoking and complete the notes under the headings given.
STOP THEM BEFORE THEY START Should every teenager be given a vaccine that blocks the effects of nicotine, and so prevents them becoming addicted to cigarettes?
This controversial possibility is on the horizon, thanks to the development of a new vaccine for nicotine addiction. The vaccine was designed for people who want to quit smoking but who repeatedly relapse after giving up. But since most countries are failing to cut the number of children and teenagers taking up smoking, many people will want to know whether the vaccine should be used far more widely if it proves to be effective. The vaccine stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies against nicotine. When an antibody binds to nicotine, the resulting complex is too big to get into the brain, and so the brain’s ‘pleasure receptors’ that give people enjoyment from smoking aren’t activated. ‘The vaccine will be tested first on relapsing smokers, then on those who plan to quit, then on those who are not yet completely hooked,’ says Frank Vocci of the National Institute of Drug Abuse near Washington, DC, which sponsored the vaccine. ‘The final step would be vaccinating young people before they even try smoking, but that’s a long way down the road.’ John Roberts, medical director of British drugs company Xenova, is very enthusiastic. ‘I think prevention is a huge opportunity,’ he says. ‘If you can take away the pleasure nicotine gives, then
teenagers who start smoking are more likely to stop before it becomes a habit.’ Future generations may thus avoid the serious health problems in midlife caused by smoking. Eighty per cent of smokers start in their teens, with 360,000 teenagers and children in the US taking up the habit per year. But would the vaccine be given to all children or only a selected few? ‘There are civil liberties issues,’ says Amanda Sandford of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), an anti-smoking charity. ‘How will we decide which children are most at risk of becoming smokers?’ Instead she favours education as a way of discouraging children from smoking. Mark Soufliers of Florida-based Nabi Biopharmaceuticals is also cautious. ‘It is very difficult to know what is the right age to give the vaccine to children, and whether you’d need to give regular boosters. Also, how much right does a child have to say no to vaccination?’ There are also worries about giving the vaccine to long-term adult smokers. Since the vaccine doesn’t get rid of the cravings for cigarettes, will dependent smokers simply try to beat the vaccine’s antibodies by smoking more? Gary Norwith, Nabi’s clinical director, says this would be virtually impossible. ‘You’d have to stick an entire pack of cigarettes in your mouth and smoke for hours to override the antibodies,’ he says.
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