Smoking cessation med, heavy machinery don't mix: study

Last week, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) barred pilots and air-traffic controllers from taking the powerful smoking cessation drug varenicline (called Chantix in the US, Champix in Canada).

The move was sparked by a report from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) warning against operating nuclear reactors, high-rise construction cranes, trains, planes or any heavy machinery while taking the drug. Any lapse in alertness or motor control brought on by the med could lead to "massive, serious injury," it suggests.

Other reports have linked the drug to increased incidence of suicide and psychosis, and the ISMP's recommendations pull no punches either. The warning, it says, arises from the drug's ties to numerous reports of "sudden loss of consciousness, seizures, muscle spasms, vision disturbances, hallucinations, paranoia and psychosis."

"If we're going to err, we're going to err on the side of caution," FAA spokesman Les Dorr told Medscape of the decision to stop pilots and air-traffic controllers from taking the drug.

Two of Canada's leading smoking-cessation experts sounded off in NRM's May issue about the drug's efficacy and dangers. "We should be careful about who we give this treatment to," said Dr Andrew Pipe, a cardiologist at the University of Ottawa's Heart Institute. But both he and Dr Peter Selby, the clinical director of the addictions program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, agreed that patients must be reminded that the side effects are "short-term discomforts versus the longterm gain of being smoke-free."

Photo: airport-technology.com

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