Chantix / Champix – Let the Lawsuits Begin

So why have all the anti-tobacco groups suddenly become anti-nicotine? It’s a sad, simple answer. Money. These groups are running scared of e-cigs. They are lobbying “Public Health” to ban a product that has been shown to have an impressive success rate when tested on smokers who didn’t even want to quit! All over the country, well-meaning but ill-informed public health officials are implementing bans on products that offer smokers a much better success rate.

By hypnotherapist Chris Holmes

At the end of this short post is a link to a report from Bloomberg.com about Pfizer paying off the widow of a Minnesota man who killed himself whilst taking Chantix.  The out-of-court settlement was to prevent the case from going to trial.  According to this report, however, this is only “the first of more than 2,500 Chantix cases pending in federal court in Alabama set for trial”, which makes you wonder a) how many there are in the USA all told, and b) how many there are worldwide.

But that is nothing compared to the number that there should be.  I believe that everyone this drug has caused injury or suffering to should have their day in court, because Pfizer knew that there were safety concerns from 2006 onwards, if not before – and even though they are now starting to pay off victims with a tiny crumb of the enormous profits they have made from this over-hyped, failure of a “wonder drug”, they are still aggressively promoting it everywhere.

Pfizer are still denying any proven link and suggesting that the “benefits” (to them) “outweigh the risks” (to you).

After the report, someone calling themselves “Brewlady” posted this comment, which I entirely agree with so I am reproducing it in full here, and if you follow the link at the end, and scroll down to the end of Bloomberg’s report, you will see the original post there.

Brewlady:

 Smoking is bad for your health, but taking Chantix can be fatal.  Anti-tobacco groups continue to tell smokers to turn to pharmaceutical products to attempt to quit smoking, even though the success rate is dismal, less than 10% at one year.  Which means the smoker is still either buying cigarettes or buying Chantix, the patch, nicotine gum, etc.  Funny that anti-tobacco groups don’t tell smokers that their funding comes from both Big Tobacco and Big Pharma.

Tobacco Harm
Reduction is a concept that allows a smoker to continue to use nicotine while eliminating the dangers of smoking.  Swedish snus are proven to be safer than cigarettes, and the cancer statistics in Sweden offer documented proof of this.  Electronic cigarettes contain no tobacco, only propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavorings, and nicotine.  The amount of nicotine varies from zero to about 2% of the mixture, and many smokers are able to completely stop smoking by turning to this safer alternative.  Unlike smoking, the vapor that an e-cig user exhales does not cause harm to bystanders. 

  I stopped smoking over two years ago, and my health has improved tremendously.  But some insurance companies and employers are penalizing adults who are turning to these safer alternatives.  Refusing employment to someone who tests positive for nicotine is discriminatory, especially when there are accurate ways to test for smoking instead.  

So why have all the anti-tobacco groups suddenly become anti-nicotine?  It’s a sad, simple answer.  Money.  These groups are running scared of e-cigs.  They are lobbying “Public Health” to ban a product that has been shown to have an impressive success rate when tested on smokers who didn’t even want to quit!  All over the country, well-meaning but ill-informed public health officials are implementing bans on products that offer smokers a much better success rate.  North Dakota has a ballot question that will ban electronic cigarette use OUTDOORS, similar to the bans passed in cities like Boston.

It’s time for the lies to stop.  We do know what’s in e-liquid, we do know that the vapor isn’t harmful, and we do know that smokers who turn to this product are able to quit.  Personally, the most impressive milestone I reached wasn’t my one year vaping anniversary, or even my two year vaping anniversary, it was the day I realized that I no longer WANTED a cigarette.  This was huge for 36-year smoker who had given up on quitting.  This was something no pharmaceutical product had been able to do.  This was my ticket to becoming smoke free.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-18/pfizer-settles-first-chantix-suicide-case-set-for-trial.html?cmpid=yhoo

 

6 thoughts on “Chantix / Champix – Let the Lawsuits Begin”

  1. I said I agree with this “entirely”… the one bit I can’t be sure about is the comment about Swedish snus. I’m not trying to cast doubt on it, I simply don’t know the facts there, so I thought I should say so.

    But for all the people who, over the years, have accused me of self-interest and of only promoting my own method (hypnotherapy), closer inspection of this site will reveal time and time again that I also endorse the e-cig, good old-fashioned willpower, acupuncture and the original Allen Carr book.

    My own books are NOT self-help books about quitting. They are all about hypnosis, hypnotherapy, the human mind and the secrets of stage hypnosis, as well as explaining how we shut down compulsive habits like smoking with hypnotherapy.

  2. I’m doing a great big WTF face when reading about the sudden increase in the bans-push, this last week. Yeah, let’s make sure everyone keeps using nasty-smelling smoke instead of harmless vaporizers.

    I’d say “idiots” but it’s so obviously greed that everyone with 2 brain cells to spark together feels insulted by this new scam.

  3. Dear Readers
    Its October 2014 & I am just out of hospital from heart complications in arrhythmic issues from
    CHAMPIX
    after 7days into the program
    A program that is recommended by G.P’s, Qld Health Department
    Everything in my life is STUFFED up from this crap
    We have to stop it OR make sure “WARNINGS” areprinted on the packaging
    Regards
    Rod

  4. 09/11/2014
    I started on “CHAMPIX” 15/09/14 and was in hospital 21/11/2014 with suspected heart attack. The warning that my doctor read before recommending the product was minimal.
    The FDA has imposed a “WARNING” on Champtix packs by Pfizer.
    Why haven’t the TGA imposed the same warning her in Australia.
    Pfizer has to pay for the health damage Champix has done and is doing.

  5. I took champix in 2010, as a result I suffered acute psychosis – and was sectioned under the mental health act. Without the intervention of my family to get me sectioned I strongly believe I would not be here today. This Drug is awful, it needs to be taken off the market. It’s unbelievable it’s still available!

  6. I took 2 courses of Champix, the last being 2011. 6 weeks later I had a psychotic episode…something that had never happened before to me. I am 43. I recovered but a year later had a major psychotic episode believing all my family were conspiring to kill me. I was sectioned for 8 days. I recovered once more bu Nov 2014, I had another, this time believing I was the second coming of Jesus Christ. I was nearly sectioned but promised to take my anti-psycotics so I was treated at home. My son who is 19 was so scared of me that he slept with a wedge under his door as he was afraid I was going to harm him. I truly believe this is down to that horrible drug. I am currently seeking the advice of a solicitor. This muck should be banned. France have banned it and pilots aren’t alloweed to use it but WE can? What sense does that make? Are we not important enough? Does ruining our lives not count?

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