Chinese authorities stumped by controversial smoking cessation product
Chinese researchers discover why so many writers are heavy smokers — Chinese scientists show heavy smoking boosts the imagination, though it harms rest of brain
Oct 26th, 2014
by Stephen Chen
A Chinese study on how tobacco use damages the brain has also stumbled upon evidence heavy smoking can boost concentration and imagination – something scientists say could shed light on why many writers are attracted to lighting up.
But the researchers won’t be pursuing this finding, they say, as it is “politically incorrect”.
The study, conducted by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, found heavy smoking damages the brain overall, reducing the ability to process information and respond to it.
But two areas – one in charge of visual data processing and the other determining concentration levels – saw smoother communication among neurons after tobacco was used, according to Lei Hao, the lead scientist for the study, which was published in the academic journal Addiction Biology last month.
“Information is passed around in these areas with higher efficiency than in non-smokers,” said Lei, a specialist in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Lei’s team compared the brain activity and associated changes in blood flow of 31 heavy smokers against 33 non-smokers. The heavy smokers had an average age of 50 and had smoked for 25 years, consuming at least two packs a day.
The more they smoked, the greater the efficiency among neurons observed in the two regions.
The areas are believed to play important roles in the creative writing process.
Explaining why they would not pursue the implications of this “positive effect”, Lei said: “I will not say heavy smoking will lead to the creation of good writing or good writers. Such a conclusion would be politically wrong.
“What we observe in this study is a fact: that smoking can alter brain activity, and in certain regions there is increase in efficiency. But we cannot use the finding to encourage people [to smoke], because the negative side effects far exceed all the benefits.”
The overall performance of a heavy smoker’s brain was worse than that of a non-smoker, according to the study.
Permanent damage had been observed at the “default mode network”, or brain regions that were active when a person was not focused and the brain was at wakeful rest.
The regions are believed to be tied to illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease, autism and schizophrenia.
“However much you may want to be a great writer, don’t try it. The benefit is not worth the risk,” Lei said.
Many famous writers were notorious smokers. Mo Yan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012, was said to have exchanged the handwritten manuscript of a best-selling novel for 10 cartons of his favourite brand of cigarette.
In the West, smoking has been known among writers for centuries, from the 17th century French playwright Moliere, who asserted, “Whoever lives without tobacco doesn’t deserve to live”, to the Irish writer Oscar Wilde, who said, “A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure”.
“It is exquisite and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?”
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Why writers draw on tobacco for inspiration.
?Health or Nicotine Replacement?
Chinese authorities stumped by controversial smoking cessation product
December 04, 2006
A product to help China’s hard core smokers kick the habit has raised questions over the safety and classification of cigarette replacement treatments.
Authorities have been stumped by the popular “Ruyan” — Chinese for “cigarette like” — nicotine pipe and come under media fire for failing to regulate its sale.
Ruyan has raked in more than 1 billion yuan in domestic sales in the past year, but its unusual profile means that government tobacco, drugs and dangerous chemicals watchdogs do not know how to classify it.
It carries a certificate proving that the production process meets hygiene standards, but has never been officially tested for effectiveness.
At a press conference Saturday, the manufacturer produced a ream of safety and hygiene certificates granted by local inspection agencies and foreign medical institutions.
But concerns about the safety and toxicity of the product have prompted the Ministry of Health to ask the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention to carry out more authoritative tests.
The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, which oversees China’s tobacco industry, passed the buck to the country’s safety watchdog, saying nicotine was classified as a dangerous chemical.
However, the State Administration of Work Safety told Xinhua that it only dealt with the production and transport of dangerous chemicals, and had no remit over the the use of those chemicals.
To make the picture even more confused, Ruyan falls under none of the subject categories supervised by the State Food and Drug Administration.
Ruyan consists of a stainless steel pipe, a lithium ion battery, micro-electronic circuit, an atomizing chamber, an indicator light and a nicotine-rich “smoking ball”.
When smokers draw on the pipe, the “smoking balls” are aerosolized and nicotine is inhaled.
The Beijing Times has questioned the product’s safety, pointing out that it contains 18 milligrams of nicotine per ball, far higher than the average 1.2 milligrams in a cigarette.
Experts have different opinions about the harm done by nicotine.
“Nicotine is simply addictive. It’s the carbon monoxide and tar produced by smoking cigarettes that cause disease,” the Science and Technology Daily quoted Zhang Yifang, an expert with the Chinese Association of Smoking and Health, as saying at Saturday’s press conference.
“Although nicotine is not carcinogenic, it can quicken the growth of cancers and trigger heart diseases, arteriosclerosis and strokes,” Liu Yunqing, a professor with the school of basic medical sciences of Zhengzhou University in central China’s Henan Province, told Chengdu Business newspaper.
“I use Ruyan as a substitute for tobacco, because it has fewer harmful substances, that way I can go on ‘smoking’,” a consumer surnamed Qi told Xinhua.
Ruyan’s ambiguous profile has raised concerns about the legitimacy of its advertisements, with the government banning all tobacco ads and requiring approval for medical ads.
The Ruyan ads underwent no government scrutiny prior to release, because the product is classified neither as tobacco, nor as a drug or healthcare product, Xinhua learned from the Advertising Department of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce.
The confusion is likely to last till the end of the year, when the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention will release results of safety and toxicity tests on Ruyan samples.
China has more than 350 million smokers, about a third of the world’s smoking population. Each year, about 700,000 die from smoking-related diseases.
With the government encouraging the development of new tobacco control products, special regulations should be drawn up in June, said Zhang Bin, vice director of the Ministry of Health department responsible for maternity, child and community health.?
