The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7232 p71
18 January 2003

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Little evidence to link NRT with cancer

Following reports of a study linking nicotine with the activation of pathways leading to lung cancer, the charity Cancer Research UK has responded by saying that there is little evidence to link nicotine use with an increased risk of cancer.

The study, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggests that nicotine, along with another component of cigarettes known as NNK, a tobacco-specific carcinogen, activates a pathway in airway epithelial cells that may contribute to carcinogenesis (2003;111:81).

However, Professor Martin Jarvis, of Cancer Research UK's health behaviour unit, points out that the research was conducted in test tubes. "In real world situations where people use nicotine without burning tobacco (as with Swedish use of moist oral snuff), there is little evidence of an increased risk of cancer," he said.

He added that giving up smoking is the most effective way of reducing cancer risk, and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products are effective aids to quitting. "Nicotine patches and gum save lives. Stories speculatively linking cancer risk to gum and patch use may influence smokers not to use these products, hence not to quit successfully, and so may lead to more rather than fewer cancer deaths."

Nicotine is almost certainly not completely free of health effects but any risks should be seen in the context of the risks of smoking. "Brief use of patches or gum (typically for no more than six to 12 weeks) has an excellent safety profile and doubles smokers' chance of quitting," he concluded.