WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2006
Wednesday Edition: A Cold Glass of Nicotine
My Morning Meeting partner, Meg Martin, found this one. Soon,
U.S.
and Canadian consumers will be able to get their nicotine in a drink --
as a substitute for cigarettes when lighting up is not an option.
The Canadian Press reported:
Canadian smokers may soon have a new
alternative to lighting up a cigarette to soothe their need for
nicotine -- and it comes in a bottle.
Nic Lite,
a lemon-flavoured, water-based nicotine drink that contains four
milligrams of organic nicotine -- equivalent to the amount of the drug
found in two cigarettes -- may soon be landing a spot on store shelves
on this side of the border.
In a statement released in June, the makers of Nic Lite said they plan to roll out the product in more than 50 U.S. airports, targeting nicotine-addicted airline passengers facing the agony of smoke-free flights.
"We attempted to find other products
that might have the same biological effect on people to help them when
they can't smoke, or in our case, when they can't smoke and shouldn't
smoke," said Joseph Knight, CEO of the California-based Nico Worldwide
Inc., the makers of Nic Lite.
The company's Web site said the drink is "perfect for use on airplanes, in bars or restaurants, or at parties." The Web site also links to a number of articles suggesting, among other things, that nicotine might be good for people who have memory loss.
Here is the company's July 2004 petition to the Food & Drug Administration.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids opposes the nicotine drink and wants the FDA to act. In a July 11 press release the group said:
The Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids and the Public Citizen Health Research Group today
wrote to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to urge the agency to
immediately stop the marketing of "Nic Lite," a bottled water
containing significant amounts of highly addictive nicotine. Each
8-ounce bottle of Nic Lite contains the same amount of nicotine as two
cigarettes. The letter from the organizations urges the FDA to
immediately initiate enforcement action against the manufacturer, Nico
Worldwide, Inc.
In 2002, the FDA designated "nicotine water" as an "unapproved drug product,
after the agency was petitioned by a number of citizens' groups. Nic
Lite has since been classified as a dietary supplement, according to an ABC News report last month:
Nic Lite was first available at Los Angeles International Airport
for smokers who get fidgety on flights. Now, some convenience stores
also stock it.
The company's Web site says it would also like to offer Nic Lite in bars, since more and more of them are smoke free.
Nicotine gum and the
patch are supposed to help people quit smoking, but Nic Lite is
marketed as a way to get you through until you can smoke some more.
While the FDA
regulates the gum and patch as drugs, Nic Lite is classified as a
dietary supplement. That means it was able to get to market without any
oversight. The FDA can only take action if it's found to be dangerous.
"Somehow the FDA has either been fooled or has made another of a long line of bad decisions over the last 10 years or so," said Sidney Wolfe, of the group Public Citizen.
Even though it worries some critics, Yale Medical School
professor Dr. David Katz said Nic Lite will probably not be as big a
hit as other cigarette substitutes. He also said it is less addictive
than cigarettes.
"The biggest
difference is that the gum and the patch are used to help you quit
smoking," he said. "When we ingest something, most chemicals that get
into the blood stream go through the liver and that sort of filters
those chemicals out. So there tends to be less of an effect when you
ingest something than when you smoke it or absorb it through the skin.
So it's going to be less intense and less addictive by mouth than if
you smoke it or wear the patch. But don't let that fool you -- you still
get the nicotine hit. That's why the gum, which in essence is ingested,
works."
Here are some related resources for you to peruse:
When Cops Speed
What happens to
police when pictures of their cruisers are snapped by those red-light cameras or when they're caught speeding? I am not
talking about running red lights or driving fast when they are responding to an emergency. I'm referring to times when they are
just going from one place to another.
So what happens? In Scottsdale, Ariz.,
the answer to the question is: Nothing. Police officers can ignore the
tickets, thanks to a deal with the sheriff's department. The East Valley (Ariz.) Tribune says:
The arrangement meant sheriff's office and DPS
vehicles exceeding the posted 65 mph speed limit on Loop 101 received a
free pass, even though in some cases police officials admitted the
speeding might not have been justified.
Some of the speeds recorded were significant, up to 117 mph.
Since
the high-profile camera system was turned on Jan. 22, city records show
that 16 emergency vehicles have been captured going 100 mph or more,
mostly DPS and sheriff's office patrol vehicles. No emergency lights
could be seen on five of the vehicles.
Overall, the system
caught 177 emergency vehicles going at least 11 mph over the 65 mph
speed limit -- mostly patrol cars and a few ambulances, officials said.
The city changed its policy after the Tribune
filed a second public records request to view the pictures and data
from those 16 cases, said Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark.
"There
was communication at the chief level that we're going to be sending ...
notice of violations for the next several months," Clark said. What
DPS and the sheriff's office does with those notices is up to them," he
added.
Asked if the change in policy was related to the Tribune's request, Clark said, "Absolutely."
The
camera enforcement program is scheduled to end in late October, when
the city will evaluate whether the system reduced collisions or slowed
down speeders.
The case of automated professional courtesy was
a touchy one for police. The Tribune learned in February that some
emergency vehicles were captured by the system going 100 mph or more.
But the city did not release those photos after a request for all
photos of vehicles caught going at those speeds. In March, city
officials said they did not intend to release those photos.
Pool Inspections
Last week, I suggested that you look at how clean your local pools are by checking health department inspection reports. The Salt Lake Tribune did just that -- and found lots of problems:
A Salt Lake Tribune review of Salt Lake County
pool water inspection records from the past year shows the best water
quality at public pools, where just under one-quarter of all facilities
had violations.
The worst: hotels and motels, where 37 percent had
violations in the past year. Whirlpools were especially problematic.
Private community pools, such as those at apartment complexes and
health clubs, followed with a 32 percent violation rate.
Tickets Buy New Police Cars
Starting next year in Illinois,
if you get a ticket and want to keep it off your driving
record, you can pay an additional $25. The money will go
toward buying more police cars.
Is there something distasteful about a
police department having an incentive to write tickets? Does it make
public-safety sense to buy your way out of losing points on your
license?
The Northwest Herald
in Crystal Lake, Ill., did a nice job of breaking down where court costs are supposed to go on a
typical ticket. This is a useful idea, wherever you are.
Yes.Com
Al's Morning Meeting reader Christopher
J. Dorobek, from Federal Computer Week, sent me a link to a cool Web site.
Have you ever heard a song on the radio and wondered what the heck it
was?
Yes.com monitors what is playing on stations around the country, and even keeps a log for you. Try it -- it is cool.
We are always looking for your great ideas.
Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas,
edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites,
as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes
directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be
provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends
upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors
and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
Posted at 11:27:07 AM
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