"..too often, the beneficial effects of 'products of enjoyment' are forgotten or ignored in well-meaning health information initiatives."ARISE held conferences around the world, released polls and sent video news releases to the media assuring the masses that substance use (including smoking) is pleasurable and harmless.
"Yolande de la Bigne, a well-known [French] journalist, covered the [ARISE Paris] conference...concluding that 'a piece of chocolate, a glass of wine, a good cigarette, you can go for it. Instead of being obsessed by health, everybody should be obsessed by pleasure which induces good health. Le Parisien also covered the conference in a lengthy feature entitled 'Pleasure is good medicine.' "Documents show that the tobacco industry persisted in funding this incredibly damaging front group as late as 1997.
http://www.tobaccodocuments.org/view.cfm?docid=2060579242&source=SNAPPM&ShowImages=yes
Brussels, September, 28, 1993 -- An international group of scientists and academics gathered in Brussels last week to discuss the ways in which "everyday pleasures," such as eating chocolate, smoking, drinking tea, coffee and alcohol, contribute to the quality of life.
The workshop convened by Professor David Warburton of the University of Reading in the U.K., was attended by scientists and academics representing a wide range of disciplines (including psychology, sociology, psychopharmacology, ethics and medicine).
According to Professor Warburton, "pleasure plays a central role in human life and brings many benefits to the individual. Many pleasures function as important guides which direct us in our interaction with the world. It is not surprising that the pleasure state is associated with biologically important behaviours, like eating and sexual activity."
"Studies in the neurochemistry of behavior have shown that all pleasures are mediated by the same brain system, including our enjoyment of alcoholic drinks, chocolate, coffee, food and tobacco products. It is in this way that these substances give us pleasure and enhance the quality of our lives," said Professor Warburton.
Another participant to the workshop, Professor Dr. Petra Ketter from the University of Giessen in Germany, said that "the importance of pleasure is that it is the antidote to negative mood states. Pleasurable experiences are in fact beneficial to health."
Yet, said Professor Warburton, "too often, the beneficial effects of 'products of enjoyment' are forgotten or ignored in well-meaning health information initiatives."
The workshop was organized by ARISE (Associates for Research in Substance Enjoyment), a worldwide association of eminent scientists who act as independent commentators. Apolitical as a group, they have the recognised expertise to review scientific statements and make constructive proposals in their respective regions.
ARISE has already held two other workshops: "Addiction Controversies" in Florence in 1991 and "Pleasure: the Politics and the Reality" in Venice in 1992.
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