Vincent Barras

The tobacco industry’s past role in weight control related to smoking

Background: Smoking is thought to produce an appetite-suppressing effect by many smokers. Thus, the fear of body weight gain often outweighs the perception of health benefits associated with smoking cessation, particularly in adolescents. We examined whether the tobacco industry played a role in appetite and body weight control related to smoking and smoking cessation. Methods: We performed a systematic search within the archives of six major US and UK tobacco companies (American Tobacco, Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Lorillard, Brown & Williamson and British American Tobacco) that were Defendants in tobacco litigation settled in 1998. Findings are dated from 1949 to 1999. Results: The documents revealed the strategies planned and used by the industry to enhance effects of smoking on weight and appetite, mostly by chemical modifications of cigarettes contents. Appetite-suppressant molecules, such as tartaric acid and 2-acetylpyridine were added to some cigarettes. Conclusion: These tobacco companies played an active and not disclaimed role in the anti-appetite effects of smoking, at least in the past, by adding appetite-suppressant molecules into their cigarettes.

Corps et subjectivité à l'époque des Lumières

Is there such a thing as an enlightenment body ? Over the past few decades, the multiplication of objectifying perspectives on the body in history tends to the extreme fragmentation of such a topic. This article defends an exploration of the body as a singular and experienced reality which remains situated in a given historical context. The case of Horace-Benedict de Saussure, studied thanks to a particularly rich set of archives (diaries, letters, various notes) bears witness to the fact that Saussure, as an individual, elaborates and affirms the meaning of his private body according to experiences and to intimate knowledge and conviction which are forever being revised during his life. The historian can thus analyse the relationship between the scale of the singular body and that of the Enlightenment body.