Just Say NO

Environmental sources of nitric oxide include the burning of fossil fuels containing nitrogen compounds and the reaction between nitrogen and oxygen inside automobile engines at high temperatures  

Lightning also contributes to the atmospheric concentration of NO. Exposed to air, nitric oxide quickly forms brown nitrogen dioxide gas  

About two decades ago scientists studying muscle relaxation discovered that our bodies produce nitric oxide for use as a neurotransmitter. (A neurotransmitter is a small molecule that serves to facilitate cell-to-ceU communications.) 

Since then, nitric oxide has been detected in at least a dozen cell types in various parts of the body. Cells in the brain, the liver, the pancreas, the gastrointestinal tract, and the blood vessels can synthesize nitric oxide. NO also functions as a cellular toxin to kill harmful bacteria. And that s not all In 1996 it was reported that NO binds to hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in the blood, helping to regulate blood pressure. 

That NO evolved as a messenger molecule is entirely appropriate. Nitric oxide is small and so can diffuse quickly from ceU to ceU. It is a stable molecule but under certain circumstances it is highly reactive, which accounts for its protective function. The enzyme that brings about muscle relaxation contains iron for which nitric oxide has a high affinity. It is the binding of NO to the iron that activates the enzyme. Nevertheless, in the cell, where biological effectors are typically very large molecules, the pervasive effects of one of the smallest known molecules are unprecedented. 

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The Usenet Just-Say-No-To-Piss-Tests Project used to maintain a similar list of the drug testing policies of varies companies, but it has not been updated since 1994. 

Carson, Ed Book Just Say No to Drug Tests How to Beat the Whiz Quiz. ISBN 0-87364-624-X... 

Just-Say-No-To-Piss-Tests Project This is a list of drug testing policies... 

Quoted in Gilbert M. Gaul and Mary Pat Flaherty. Google Just Says No to Unlicensed Pharmacy Advertising. San Francisco Chronicle, December 1, 2003, p. A4. 

Nancy Reagan popularizes the just say no slogan, urging children to avoid drugs. 

The just say no to drugs campaign was widely publicized in the 1980s and 1990s. Should this campaign be reimplemented Why or why not ... 

Although this prevention approach was incorporated into some educational materials for a short time, it was abandoned in the early 1980s during President Ronald Reagan s campaign of Just Say No to drugs. Since then, zero tolerance has been the predominant educational anti-drug approach in American classrooms. 

The doctors make us do it. After all, the doctors could just say no—and some claim they do. A muckraking web site, nofreelunch.org, was started in 1999. Medical students at several universities launched boycotts of sales-rep pizzas and pens. Dr. Delman, the medical affairs vice president in Long Island, says he has never been on a drug company outing and doesn t even go to the supposedly educational dinners. 

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