Even casual experimentation with cigarette smoking can quickly lead to addiction to cigarettes in teens according to a University of Massachusetts Medical School study in the April 2002 issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine.

The 30 month study used a simple checklist about cigarette needs and cravings and about problems with quitting in order to measure tobacco dependency in 679 grade seven students (mean age 13). Almost half of the students in the study had tried smoking and about 14% were daily smokers. The study found that students giving even one affirmative answer on the ten point Hooked-On-Nicotine Checklist were at a very substantially greater risk to become daily smokers, showing how easily tobacco dependence can lead to addiction for teens. Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation offers NicAlert(TM) and NicoMeter(TM), one-step urine and saliva tests for smoking and tobacco product exposure, that provide a simple means for teens, parents, teachers, coaches and clinicians to identify and monitor tobacco use. Both NicAlert(TM) and NicoMeter(TM) determine smoking and tobacco product use by measuring cotinine, a metabolic by-product of nicotine and widely regarded as the best biomarker for tobacco product use and exposure. NicoMeter(TM) is used with urine samples. The new, more sensitive NicAlert(TM) can be used for urine and saliva detection of both tobacco product use and tobacco product exposure. The U.S. Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization and many other public health organizations have targeted teenage tobacco use as a major preventable health risk. The large majority of long-term smokers become addicted to tobacco in their teens, only to face the health consequences later in life. The CDC recently released estimates that smoking causes over 440,000 premature deaths annually in the United States and creates an economic loss of over $150 billion a year. Dr. Michael Munzar, Medical Director of Nymox, said, "We believe that NicAlert(TM) and NicoMeter(TM) can play a valuable role in smoking cessation programs aimed at teens. These tests can help with the first step in any counseling program - identification of tobacco use - and can help monitor progress and compliance in a smoking cessation program. Quitting smoking is hard for anyone, whether a teen or an adult. NicAlert(TM) and NicoMeter(TM) can add another tool for this difficult process." Nymox provides NicAlert(TM) at $8 per test. The Company is currently negotiating a number of new marketing initiatives for NicAlert(TM). More information about Nymox is available at www.nymox.com, email: info@nymox.com, or 1-800-936-9669.

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