The director said:
“We don’t think people should smoke cigarettes and young
people shouldn’t be using nicotine but what we are finding in
our preliminary research is that there are all kinds of potential
health benefits for older people or people with mental illnesses.”
The team will travel the world and meet researchers investigating
whether the vilified stimulant could be used to treat devastating
cognitive illnesses such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, as
well as PTSD and ADHD.
He added:
“A group in Seattle did a study looking at nicotine in our food.
One thing that people often overlook is that they use nicotine.
[It] is found in tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, peppers. The
study showed that people who ate nicotine-rich foods were able
to reduce their Parkinson’s rates significantly.”
Biebert has been touring the US to find out what the general
public know about the substance. So far, very few respondents
have been able to separate nicotine from cigarettes and many
erroneously believe it to be carcinogenic.
“Smoking and nicotine are being conflated but nicotine on its
own needs to be separate in order for us to research it.”
Population studies have shown that smokers are at a much
lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than non-smokers.
Research supported by the Michael J Fox Foundation
investigated whether a 28-milligram nicotine patch each day
could reduce the progression of the disease. While the patches
proved ineffective, Biebert believes the subject warrants further
research, saying, “This is just one study with a low-level patch.
What research is showing is the more nicotine you took, the
more it affected it.”
Dr Paul Newhouse of Vanderbilt University is conducting the
largest ever study into how nicotine helps with the precursor to
Alzheimer’s, but unfortunately the team have struggled to find
volunteers despite the fact that nobody developed a nicotine
addiction during the first study.
This area of research hits particularly close to home for the
director.
“Our family has had loved ones forgetting names of family
members and then dying. That sort of thing changes you forever
when you’ve had a loved one forget your name.
“We’re now seeing the rates of Alzheimer’s and other brain
illnesses is going up and they don’t have a solution to this
problem. And along comes a plant that could help with this but
we’re not researching it.”
Biebert also cited a case where a child’s night-time seizures
stopped after she was administered nicotine patches. He also
spoke to an army veteran who smoked while in military and now
uses clean nicotine to help with symptoms of PTSD.
There are currently at least 41 studies demonstrating how
nicotine may help with cognitive processes, he said. Aaron
hopes his film will encourage funding for further research.
“We’re going to have it done this year and then we’re submitting
it to big film festivals and hoping for a really big splash in winter
of next year. About a year from now is when we’ll start making
the big waves.”
“SMOKING AND NICOTINE ARE BEING
CONFLATED BUT NICOTINE ON ITS OWN
NEEDS TO BE SEPARATE IN ORDER FOR
US TO RESEARCH IT.”
VM22 | 79