New smoking cessation therapy proves promising... assuming you still want your nicotine addiction

A novel technology for delivering nicotine to the lungs may soon give smokers a new way to kick the habit. When compared to the nicotine vapor delivery system used in the Nicotrol/Nicorette inhaler, the new technology proved more effective at delivering nicotine to the blood stream.

"We wanted to replicate the experience of smoking without incurring the dangers associated with cigarettes, and we wanted to do so more effectively than the nicotine replacement therapies currently on the market," said Jed Rose, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research where the technology is being developed.

The Nicotrol inhaler is a smoking cessation therapy that delivers nicotine vapor to the mouth and upper airways, but little of it reaches the lungs. Duke's new technology combines the vapor phase of pyruvic acid, which occurs naturally in the body, and nicotine. [ScienceCodex]

All fascinating, but why so much research to keep people addicted to nicotine? As I have said many times, the stop smoking propaganda seems designed to make people's addiction more socially acceptable - and keep the profits rolling - rather than curing the nicotine addiction.