Paging Dr. Joe Camel

"The Good Side of Nicotine" by Mairin B. Brennan, in Chemical & Engineering News (Mar. 27, 2000), 1155 16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.

A good word about nicotine seldom is heard these days, but scientists have discovered that the demonic chemical that makes smoking addictive has some therapeutic virtues, reports Brennan, a Chemical & Engineering News senior editor.

Nicotine can help some people suffering from Tourette’s syndrome, an inherited neurological disorder that afflicts as many as 150,000 children and adults in the United States. Though some people with Tourette’s can lead productive lives without medication, others need help to control the symptoms, which include repetitive twitching, shrugging, and gesturing, as well as "barking" and throat-clearing noises, word repetition, and, in some cases, involuntary cursing. Haloperidol, which is an antipsychotic drug sold commercially under the name Haldol, controls the tics in most Tourette’s patients but has undesirable side effects. Researchers have learned that nicotine boosts the effectiveness of Haloperidol, enabling its side effects to be minimized. Nicotine may also be beneficial in treating other brain disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. "Cigarette smokers are believed to have a lower risk of contracting either of these diseases, and nicotine is thought to afford the protection," Brennan writes. Numerous studies have shown that smoking wards off Parkinson’s; the evidence on Alzheimer’s is less clear.

Of course, smoking carries lethal risks: lung cancer, heart disease, stroke. At a scientific symposium earlier this year on nicotine’s therapeutic potential, Edward D. Levin, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University, began with this advice: "Don’t smoke!"