Normally I am not a fan of the pharmaceutical companies but nor am I a fan of government agencies who rail against the lack of warnings about potential grave side effects based on a limited number of reported cases and definitive scientific study. Pfizer has an anti-smoking drug on the market and Health Canada claims there is growing evidence that there may me a relationship between the drug and psychiatric problems. They claim 800 cases have been reported. All well and good, but given the difficulty of attributing environmental circumstances to the development of psychiatric symptoms, other than the usual stresses we all face of which the mentally ill are less able to cope with, to infer simple cause and effect at this point may be a little premature. In terms of cost benefit analysis if a warning dissuades a significant number of potential users one has to wonder if the health benefits accrued from quitting smoking don’t far outweigh the slight chance of potential dangerous, debilitating or even life threatening behaviours.
photo from Dr. Jaus
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