|
It used to be that smoking was portrayed as harmless or even glamorous. But today, there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary: Nicotine is addictive, and tobacco and other additives are the leading cause of various deadly cancers.
Yet 46 million Americans continue to puff away, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But what if it wasn't so much the nicotine that kept smokers shelling out more than $60 per carton, but the act of smoking itself?
Consider that the habitual smoker automatically goes through a series of motions -everything from reaching for the pack, removing a cigarette, lighting it, drawing in the smoke to finally snuffing the cigarette out in an ashtray. This process can take more than two hours a day for one-pack-a-day smokers.
This routine, says Dr. Puzant Torigian, a scientist who has spent 40 years developing a safer way to quit smoking, presents a significant challenge for those who are committed to quit. Many smokers have failed by using nicotine gums and patches and various other smoking cessation products. By some estimates, less than 11 percent of the smokers who want to quit each year actually succeed.
Torigian has introduced a new, safer way to help smokers quit by giving them the experience of smoking a cigarette without the effects of nicotine and tobacco. His product, Bravo - a smoke without nicotine or tobacco, made from enzyme-treated lettuce leaves - helps people gradually wean themselves from smoking, he says.
A number of clinical tests support Torigian's theory. Testing conducted at Lankenau and Philadelphia hospitals, for example, showed that his smokes did not elevate the blood pressure, increase the pulse rate or constrict the blood vessels the way regular cigarettes do.
By: Rick Young
|