| | "This is the most popular and quickest method to quit smoking but unfortunately it has the lowest success rate. The success rate is as low as 5-10%."
The wealthy and powerful pharmaceutical industry loves to propagate scare-tactics surrounding quitting without using their products. It is interesting that for years, American Cancer Society research studies found quitting with counseling and education (no drugs) the most effective method. After a huge influx of "funding" from the drug industry, guess what? NRT "doubles your chances of quitting." It is also interesting that NRT doesn’t fare so well in research done in countries that are not under the influence of the drug industry’s money.
So anyone interested in quitting cold turkey, read up on nicotine addiction and recovery.(WhyQuit.com, a not-for profit site, is a great place to start.) Education and support are key in breaking free from smoker’s prison. And if someone tells you CT quitting has a low success rate, remember there is a lot of controversy surrounding that claim.
GlaxoSmithKline Continues Defrauding Smokers
by John R. Polito, Nicotine Cessation Educator
Imagine corporate greed so great that it’s willing to lie in attempting to destroy all remaining smoker confidence in their own natural quitting instincts, to quit smoking cold turkey.
On October 28, 2010, the day following an announcement that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) had agreed to pay a $750 million fine in a fraud case, GSK’s Consumer Healthcare division issued a press release asserting that, "NRT products offer a step-down therapy that doubles a smoker’s chances of quitting versus cold turkey."
It’s time to stop being afraid and simply say it. Through and through, GSK’s statement is a fraudulent marketing misrepresentation.
Truth is, NRT (nicotine replacement therapy) has failed to prevail over cold turkey quitters in nearly every long-term quitting method survey conducted to date. GSK knows that just last year cold turkey quitters defeated NRT quitters in a survey conducted by four GSK consultants.
Cold Turkey Twice as
Effective as NRT or Zyban
WhyQuit - Friday, May 19, 2006
All real-world performance studies to date suggest that expensive nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products like the nicotine patch, gum and lozenge are a total waste of money. In none have NRT quitters performed better than those who quit smoking without them. Now, a May 2006 study survey has found cold turkey success rates twice as high as among those relying upon the nicotine patch, gum, inhaler or bupropion (Zyban and Wellbutrin).
Published in the May 2006 edition of Addictive Behaviors, the survey analyzed 2002 and 2003 patient quitting method data collected by 1,000 Australian family practice physicians. Patients were asked their smoking status, how long since they had last smoked and which of twelve quitting methods they used during their last attempt.
The study established success rates for each of twelve methods by �dividing the total number of successful patients (former smokers) by total number of patients attempting to quit (former plus current) using that method.� In analyzing former smokers, it looked at the quitting method used by each former smoker during their last attempt, regardless of the year in which they quit. In assessing current smokers it looked at their last unsuccessful attempt, so long as it occurred within the prior five years. As shown below, the analysis produced rather high success rates.
Success rates among 2,207 former smokers and 928 current smokers were: cold turkey 77.2% (1,942 former, 575 current); nicotine patch 35.9% (145 former, 259 current); nicotine gum 35.9% (52 former, 93 current); nicotine inhaler 35.3% (12 former, 22 current); and bupropion (Zyban or Wellbutrin) 22.8% (36 former, 122 current). |
| Posted on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011 |
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