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December 12, 2008

Denis Leary was right

We tested 32 people (from Britain, China, Germany, Japan and the United States), some of whom were social smokers and some of whom were two-pack-a-day addicts. Most of these subjects reported thatcigarette warning labels reduced their craving for a cigarette, but their brains told us a different story.

Each subject lay in the scanner for about an hour while we projected on a small screen a series of cigarette package labels from various countries — including statements like “smoking kills” and “smoking causes fatal lung cancers.” We found that the warnings prompted no blood flow to the amygdala, the part of the brain that registers alarm, or to the part of the cortex that would be involved in any effort to register disapproval.

To the contrary, the warning labels backfired: they stimulated the nucleus accumbens, sometimes called the “craving spot,” which lights up on f.M.R.I. whenever a person craves something, whether it’s alcohol, drugs, tobacco or gambling.

Further investigation is needed, but our study has already revealed an unintended consequence of antismoking health warnings. They appear to work mainly as a marketing tool to keep smokers smoking.

Barack Obama has said he’s been using nicotine gum to fight his own cigarette habit. His new administration can help other smokers quit, too, by eliminating the government scare tactics that only increase people’s craving.

Sure understanding the external validity of this requires noting that correlation isn't causation, the sample is tiny, and we don't much about how the mind works, Nevertheless, it is nice to see someone in the field of public health arguing against scare tactics.

Bonus:
The incomparable Denis Leary on smoking in his NO CURE FOR CANCER stand up routine.. Not sure which of the 9 parts has the warning label section, but watch the whole thing and laugh.

Posted by OneEyedMan at December 12, 2008 2:47 PM

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