Smoking - a simple way to prevent or cure Swine Flu? By guest author Kin Free

Our guest writer today is known on the Freedom2Choose forum as Kin Free. He does what investigative journalists in the MSM should do (scientific in this case), investigate. Here’s what he’s found, and it’s food for thought. Over to you Kin Free.

 Arnica montana (The tobacco plant)

I can hear the response to this statement already; “Okay, Yeah, whatever, Pigs might fly too” (rolls eyes).. Or... “Another evil Tobacco company ploy”... Well, read on and look at the
science ... Don’t be too ‘phased’ by the medical terminology!

Ever heard of the medical term ‘Cytokine storm’? No? - me neither, not until recently that is. Yet it seems to me to be one of the most important medical theories produced in recent history.

Normal cytokine production by the immune system contributes importantly to both health and disease. The nervous system, via an inflammatory reflex of the vagus nerve, can inhibit cytokine release and thereby prevent tissue injury and death. The efferent
neural signalling pathway is termed the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway.

I am no medical expert, so don’t expect me to go into precise detail, but my understanding is that‘ Cytokine storms’ result from the body’s failure to control, via the vagus nerve, the auto-immune response to infection. Producing a virulent immune response with the production of large amounts of the immune system hormones, causes inflammation that can produce acute
respiratory distress syndrome and eventually lead to multiple organ failure. (the body is killed by its own immune defence system).

While it is still, I believe, considered to be a theory, it is backed up by a fair bit of scientific observation and experimentation. It is believed that ‘cytokine storms’ are one of the characteristics of swine flu where the vagus nerve fails to react correctly to the infection. Nicotine (and smoking) is thought to stimulate the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway and ‘kick start’ the vagus nerve into action, preventing an excessive immune response.

Art Ayers article on ‘Suite 101’ explains the smoking/swine flu/cytokine storms/ vagus nerve connections; of course the article, as with almost any article on smoking health benefits
nowadays, has to have the obligatory ‘but smoking is bad ’ comment! (Absolutely necessary for anyone who wishes to continue to comment on a health website or remain part of the medical scientific community).

The article states;

“The rapid high temperature produced by Mexican H1N1 suggest that some of the deaths have resulted from cytokine storms.”
“nicotine, although one of the most addictive chemicals, can have beneficial effects on inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis, asthma, cancer, inflammatory bowel diseases and perhaps, H1N1.”

“Smoking cessation may contribute to more severe symptoms of H1N1 infections.”

A more comprehensive document can be found in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, authored by Kevin J. Tracey of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, New York, USA (2007). He outlines various aspects of the cytokine theory of disease, therapeutics and studies such as;

“The cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway has been studied by several groups using animal models of sepsis in which a perforation is created in the cecum in order to induce lethal peritonitis. Treatment of these mice [was done] with nicotine, .... Notably, nicotine administration did not begin until 24 hours
after the onset of lethal peritonitis in this model, indicating that the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway can control cytokine responses even when the disease process is already established.”

“ Administration of nicotine to these animals restored the cytokine balance, reduced influx of inflammatory cells, and attenuated tissue damage in the liver”

Oh dear! How will healthism reconcile this? Evidence that nicotine and therefore, smoking can cure cytokine storms!! Cytokine storms are strongly believed to cause deaths in the Mexican HiN1 epidemic, ergo, unless my logic is defective, smoking can cure Swine flu!!

“Cigarette smoking confers some increased risk of the development of rheumatoid arthritis but is protective against osteoarthritis. Alzheimer disease and other brain degenerative disorders are characterized by cholinergic deficiency and decreased vagus nerve activity. Our recent evidence
indicates that centrally acting cholinergic agonists used in the treatment of Alzheimer disease can modulate peripheral immune responses by stimulating brain networks to activate the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway.”

This goes some way to back up and explain why many smoking studies indicate that smoking delays or prevents brain degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and possibly atopic conditions such as asthma, these are also apparently linked to vagus nerve activity.

“Cytokine overproduction has been implicated in the development of tissue damage and organ injury
during hemorrhagic shock” ... “A high-fat diet also activates increased efferent vagus nerve activity,
which decreases TNF levels and confers significant protection against hemorrhagic shock”

Wait a minute, What was that?...“A high-fat diet”… also protects against cytokine storms!! Another blow to healthism?

What of the ‘tissue damage and organ injury during hemorrhagic shock’ ? Sounds uncannily like the Ukraine swine flu mutation that is apparently Tamiflu and vaccine resistant and characterized by
bleeding lungs! Does that indicate cytokine storm too?

Now, most people have never heard of ‘cytokine storms’ nor the beneficial effects of nicotine/ tobacco smoke on its severity. Why is this the case, when it is potentially life saving information? It may not be the ultimate ‘holy grail’ of medicine and these findings are in the early stages of research, but it strongly suggests that public health would benefit to some, possibly a substantial, degree.

The conspiracy theorist may argue that this information was being suppressed as part of the New World Order where the elite desire a cull of the world population and that it is all part of
the grand plan for world domination. There may even be some mileage in that. After all, rather than making this information available, the politicians and medical community worldwide are, in fact, going ‘all out’ using all kinds of debase tactics, to increase the non-smoking population as quickly as possible, which may indicate some hidden agenda!

I think that there is a much simpler explanation however. First of all, the anti-smoking movement always refuses to acknowledge that smoking can be anything other than damaging to health! If science does not agree with that dogmatic premise, then it must be wrong in their eyes and must have been produced by the evil tobacco companies. Could it also be more about the
control of supply and delivery of that wonder drug - Nicotine! There would be no profit in it for Big Pharma if the swine flu pandemic could be solved by merely taking up smoking and eating a high fat diet, is there? Is it not beyond the bounds of possibility that they want the monopoly to supply everyone with nicotine based drugs, without the competition posed by tobacco, and, what would happen to all those millions of doses of (useless?)swine flu vaccine?

If this information is seen and accepted by the general public, can we expect a run on Boots the chemist battling for a rapidly dwindling stock of NRT products? Possibly, but it may be that the
best response to the swine flu pandemic and the solution to preventing ‘the end of the world’ scenario, could be down to the humble, but reviled cigarette with it’s efficient nicotine delivery
system, enjoyed with a pint or two of disgusting beer and a greasy Doner Kebab to follow, before collapsing in your stinking pit for the night - Oh the irony!!
Kin Free