Specious Harvard nicotine study
January 18th, 2007
Media, Opinion
How does increasing the amount of nicotine in cigarettes make them more addictive? In a “hot” media frenzy, a report from a “Harvard Study” found that the nicotine content in many cigarettes rose 11% from 1997 – supposedly making them “more addictive and harder to quit”.
Unless the nicotine itself has changed, common sense (yes… good old common sense) would suggest that having more of it in a cigarette simply means for the same level of a nicotine “dose”, a smoker would not have to smoke as much! That might actually be a good thing!
Seriously, a smoker - addicted to nicotine - will smoke to satisfy the nicotine craving. If more is needed, more is smoked. If you can get the same amount of nicotine by smoking less, so much the better. I haven’t seen the actual Harvard study, but any other conclusion is specious at best.
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