DeNoble presents scientist’s view of nicotine
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POLSON — Brandishing a monkey brain, Victor DeNoble, Ph.D., talked about nicotine addiction at the Spring Juvenile Diabetes Conference held at the KwaTaqNuk Resort and Casino. DeNoble also spoke at the Johnny Arlee/Vic Charlo Theatre on the Salish Kootenai College on Feb. 21.
The brain came from Sarah, a monkey who was “a drug addict,” DeNoble said. Her drug of choice was nicotine. Even though Sarah had not received nicotine for years and there was no nicotine in her body when she died, DeNoble explained that the drug had changed her brain cells.
Addiction to nicotine can take place in two to six months, DeNoble said. He explained that nicotine changes the way dopamine works. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter which is produced by the brain. One function of dopamine is pleasure. When nicotine reaches the brain, it releases dozens of dopamines that connect to receptors providing an “I Feel Good” sensation, DeNoble said, singing James Brown’s song to illustrate the feeling. But eventually the brain grows “earmuffs” over the receptor, requiring more and more nicotine to quiet the craving.
When a person quits using tobacco products, it takes five to 10 years after quitting smoking or chewing to get the nicotine out of his or her body, DeNoble explained
As a young man, DeNoble was recruited to develop a safer cigarette for Philip Morris Tobacco Company in the 1980s, according to his press release. In secret laboratory experiments with rats, he studied the effects of nicotine on their brains.
Although DeNoble succeeded in developing a nicotine substitute that did not have the negative effects nicotine has on the heart, the tobacco company seized his laboratory, and DeNoble was fired. The company feared his research proving nicotine was addictive. A secrecy agreement in his contract prevented DeNoble from discussing his research for more than decade.
Now 26 years later, DeNoble shares his message with about 350,000 kids a year. DeNoble spreads the word that nicotine is a drug, very addictive, and can affect kids’ and everyone else’s brains.
“We must think of tobacco use as an addiction,” he stressed.
Spit tobacco with 4 to 400 mg. of nicotine, DeNoble noted, has even more nicotine than cigarettes that contain 1 to 7 mg. Cigars are loaded with 150 to 450 mg. of nicotine.
He said 40 percent fewer youth nationwide start smoking or chewing when there is education about the effects of tobacco.
DeNoble also spoke at Salish Kootenai College on Feb. 21 and was on his way to Philipsburg to present information to students there.
“In public health, when we have a disease, we vaccinate — well, we have a vaccination for tobacco … that’s tobacco ed,” DeNoble concluded.
