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ASH Daily News

19 October, 2000

Headlines
'Safety fears over anti-smoking drug after 999 crash'
'Safer cigarette' comes under fire'

Full Text

'Safety fears over anti-smoking drug after 999 crash'

Zyban, the drug designed to help smokers quit, 'was at the centre of safety
fears yesterday after an ambulance driver who took it had a seizure and
crashed her vehicle' the Daily Mail reports.

The article adds, 'The incident came as the Department of Health reported
that 862 users have suffered serious side effects since the drug was
licensed in June.'

The incident occurred in Manchester when the ambulance ploughed through the
front wall of a home. Doctors at the casualty unit where the driver was
treated said that she was the fifth patient to be treated for the side
effects of Zyban in the past six weeks.

Dr Howard Marsh, spokesman for Glaxo Wellcome, said, "There is potential for
a serious side-effect, which is seizures. It is rare."

Source: Daily Mail, The Independent, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, 19
October 2000

'Safer cigarette' comes under fire'

This month a company will begin test-marketing a supposedly safer cigarette.
Star Scientific's product is said to be lower in tobacco specific
nitrosamine, a class of carcinogen. It will also have a charcoal filter to
reduce toxic gases such as carbon monoxide.

The article adds, 'But the launch is mired in claims and counter-claims
about whether this cigarette is really any better for health. Critics point
out that nitrosamines, produced as tobacco leaves are amongst at least 40
carcinogenic ingredients. There is no clear consensus on how much the new
tobacco processing methods used by Star cut the levels of nitrosamines.
Worse, trying to come up with less harmful cigarettes may well encourage
smoking rather than reducing it.'

Source: The Times, 19 October 2000