Smoking

[emjay]

Just found out that the drug I was prescribed five years ago to quit smoking, Champix, was discontinued in (at least) the UK and Europe, a year or two ago, for fear of contamination by a carcinogen:

Pfizer recalls all stock of smoking cessation medicine over nitrosamine contamination. Note: this link seems to be behind a limited/conditional paywall which I didn't notice at first, so you may only get one read of the article.

For myself I'm not really worried about it; it can't have been a bigger carcinogen than smoking itself, so I'm still grateful I received it when I did because I doubt much else would have worked for me personally, but obviously I can no longer recommend it to others, which I had been doing to all and sundry. So to whoever I've recommended it to so wholeheartedly in the past, please consider that recommendation retracted.

And I've also just found out that a similar drug, Zyban, (when I was quitting smoking both were offered at the same time, and it was a choice between the two; they both have similar perceptual effects, but achieve them in different ways) was also recalled for similar reasons... though indications are that it may have been, or be being, approved for resupply, late 2023: https://www.ncsct.co.uk/publication_zyban_stock.php. Though, if I'm reading that right, it does suggest it does still contain that carcinogen, but just at 'acceptable' levels so it would require a risk/benefit analysis on whether or not to use it.