An increasing number of companies are charging their employees for having bad habits, such as smoking, eating excessively, and not exercising. Some people say that these types of programs violate a worker’s privacy and make group health plans too similar to individual insurance. At the same time, these programs force some people to take notice and be more aware of their bad habits that may affect their health.
A recent study shows that restaurant smoking bans help to persuade teenagers not to become smokers. Teens who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than teens that lived in communities without bans or that had weak bans. Smoking bans discourage tobacco use and sends out the message that smoking is not healthy. The ban also reduces the amount of smoke that teens are exposed to in public places.
Having a parent or close friend that smokes can be an influence as to whether or not a teenager experiments with cigarettes but strong bans in public places play a bigger role in whether a not the teen will develop a smoking habit. The study also found that the bans had a greater effect on younger teens than older teens.
Scientists are currently working on a vaccine that could prevent cocaine addicts from getting a high from the drug. The vaccine contains inactivated cocaine molecules that are attached to pieces of the inactivated cholera virus. When the vaccine is injected into the body, it trains the body’s immune system to see the drug as an invader. If the vaccinated cocaine addict takes cocaine, antibodies surround and attack themselves to the cocaine molecules and prevent them from reaching the brain to create that sense of feeling high. For people that want to stop using cocaine and kick the habit, the vaccine could be very useful.
