Duke Pharmacologist Presents the Science Behind Smoking

Research suggests that the earlier someone begins smoking, the more likely they are to be life-long smokers and the more trouble they have in quitting. Due to brain changes that occur during adolescence, teenage smokers are more likely to become seriously hooked than those who take up the habit as adults (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003).

According to IB Coordinator Dr. Ron Thomas, "tobacco is the only over-the-counter product that kills when used normally; it causes more than four times as many deaths as car accidents, suicides, aids, and homicides combined." Dr. Thomas and IB Environmental Systems teacher Robert Corbin are leading the fight to control tobacco use at Myers Park and to confront the lies and dirty tricks of the tobacco industry. Over the past two years, they and a committed group of IB students have taken a comprehensive look at why and how nicotine is so addictive. With the help of Duke University's Comprehensive Cancer Center and UNC Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School, they have examined the mental and physical aspects of nicotine addiction, surveyed students about tobacco use and attitude, and organized activities to engage students in dialogue about the dangers of teenage tobacco use.

Dr. Rochelle D. Schwartz-Bloom, Associate Professor of Pharmacology at Duke University, was on campus Friday, March 19, 2004 to talk to students about how nicotine affects the brain. Her message got the attention of those students who were privileged to dialogue with her- "early nicotine use "may" cause the wiring of the brain to develop inappropriately." Over time, receptors in a smoker's brain become conditioned to expect nicotine. When deprived of nicotine, the smoker experiences withdrawal; this helps create dependency or addiction. In other words, smoking is linked to underlying biological processes as well as psychological and behavioral ones.

Dr. Schwartz-Bloom is an expert in neuropharmacology and neuroscience whom reporters can contact regarding health and medical stories. It was a rare privilege to have someone with her scientific expertise on campus. Her interests include regulation of GABA- gated CI-channels, imaging intacellular CI in living brain slices, confocal microscopy, GABA neurotransmission in neuronal degeneration and neuroprotection with GABA-ergic drugs, apoptotic signaling cascade in injury and death, development of novel approaches to science education.

This is how one tobacco company, Philip Morris USA, explains how smoking works:
"Smoking a cigarette for the beginner is a symbolic act. I am no longer my mothers child, I'm tough, I'm an adventurer, I'm not square'... as the force from the psychological symbolism subsides, the pharmacological effect takes over to sustain the habit."

It is illegal to sell tobacco to those underage and illegal for them to buy it. Experts like Dr. Schwartz-Bloom think there's a good justification for this law. "Research shows the longer we can delay the onset of tobacco use among adolescents, the less likely they are to become addicted." According to Dr. Thomas, "Our hope is that anti tobacco use activities such as "The Science Behind Smoking" will lead to lively discussion that will reinforce the message that smoking is not cool or healthy."