MEANINGS &amp; MOTIVES Experts Debating Tobacco Addiction

Mars, Sarah G.; Ling, Pamela M.

doi:10.2105/ajph.2007.114124

Cited by 11 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…32,56–58 Until the 1980s, there was disagreement among tobacco control professionals (but not in the tobacco companies 43,59 ) on whether tobacco use was a habit or addiction. The WHO Director General Halfdan Mahler demonstrated this uncertainty at the Sixth WCTOH in Japan in 1987 when he said,…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Nature, Scope, and Development of the Global Tobacco Control Epistemic Community

2011

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Over the past 50 years, tobacco control has been transformed from a national to a global issue, becoming institutionalized in the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the first international public health treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO. The global tobacco control epistemic community, a worldwide network of professionals with a common interpretation of the science in tobacco use and control, has contributed to this transformation. We investigated the development, structure, and function of this community through interviews and archival documents. Professionals in the community are bound by values and consensual knowledge developed after years of contentious debates undergirded their activities. Although these professionals play multiple roles, they recognize that scientific evidence should inform advocacy and policy activities. Public health professionals should continue to strengthen the links between science and advocacy for policy while being vigilant against industry efforts to undermine the scientific evidence on tobacco use and control.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Nature, Scope, and Development of the Global Tobacco Control Epistemic Community

2011

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“…Thus, only on his own tendentious criteria, as reflected in the 1957 WHO definitions, which he had already largely disowned, Seevers was responsible for the Surgeon General classing tobacco as merely habituating rather than addictive. Furthermore, one may reasonably suppose that Seevers already knew that the WHO would very soon discard 'addiction' entirely, adopting a definition of 'drug dependence' that would include nicotine (Mars and Ling, 2008).…”

Section: Seevers and The Official Definition Of Addiction In The 1950smentioning

confidence: 99%

Maurice Seevers, the stimulants and the political economy of addiction in American biomedicine

Rasmussen

2010

BioSocieties

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From about 1930 to the late 1960s a definition of addiction dominated in the United States that made opiate-style abstinence reactions essential, and distinguished sharply between true addiction and merely psychological drug habituation. This definition was so narrow that it left all stimulants out of the addictive category, and it was not uncontested. By looking at the postwar efforts of one of the chief architects of this definition, pharmacologist Maurice Seevers, to defend his conception of addiction in both scientific and policy realms, I demonstrate the contingency of this construction of addiction upon methodological commitments and industrial interests related to amphetamines and tobacco.

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“…Best practice, evidence-based treatment includes multiplesession counselling and pharmacotherapy, or the combination of both (Fiore et al, 2008). The field has moved past the notion that tobacco dependence is simply a bad habit, a vice, or a moral deficiency that can be overcome by willpower or education alone (Mars & Ling, 2008). However, the language used in discussing treatment has not always been consistent with this evidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New terminology for the treatment of tobacco dependence: a proposal for debate

2013

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Tobacco dependence is characterised as a chronic, relapsing disorder that typically requires multiple quit attempts before successful, long-term abstinence is achieved (Steinberg, Foulds, Richardson, Burke, & Shah, 2006). Best practice, evidence-based treatment includes multiple-session counselling and pharmacotherapy, or the combination of both (Fiore et al., 2008). The field has moved past the notion that tobacco dependence is simply a bad habit, a vice, or a moral deficiency that can be overcome by willpower or education alone (Mars & Ling, 2008). However, the language used in discussing treatment has not always been consistent with this evidence. Some words and phrases used lend themselves to varied meanings, and could lead to significant misunderstanding not only among professionals in the field, but also among the general public (O'Brien, 2010; Davis, 1992; Perkins, 1999; Hughes, 2013). In this paper, we discuss some commonly used, problematic terminology, and suggest more appropriate terms (Table 1).

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MEANINGS & MOTIVES Experts Debating Tobacco Addiction

Abstract: Over the last 50 years, tobacco has been excluded from and then included in the category of addictive substances.

Cited by 11 publications

References 19 publications

The Nature, Scope, and Development of the Global Tobacco Control Epistemic Community

The Nature, Scope, and Development of the Global Tobacco Control Epistemic Community

Maurice Seevers, the stimulants and the political economy of addiction in American biomedicine

New terminology for the treatment of tobacco dependence: a proposal for debate

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