60 MG OF PURE NICOTINE PLACED ON THE TONGUE WOULD KILL IN MINUTES
Nicotine is addictive, more addictive in fact than crack cocaine. This means that when you are hooked your system requires that a certain level of nicotine must be kept in your bloodstream or you start feeling uncomfortable. This happens when you pass your normal time for another hit.You need this hit of nicotine to maintain your comfort level in the same way as a diabetic needs insulin. The difference is that when you quit smoking, your body will adjust to doing without nicotine and you can be comfortable without needing any further hits.While you are hooked nicotine does a number of things to your system. Nicotine activates neurohormonal pathways, releasing acetylcholine, norepinephrine , dopamine, serotonin, vassopressin, beta-endorpin, growth hormone, and ACTH. But nicotine can do other things too: it may cause and delay the healing of peptic ulcers; it can cause liver or kidney damage and may interfere with your processing of insulin.The high blood pressure caused by nicotine can also develop into malignant hypertension, the uncontrollable blood pressure that results in death. Discontinuing smoking does not directly reduce blood pressure, but is very important for people with hypertension because it reduces the risk of many dangerous outcomes of hypertension, such as stroke and heart attack.Nicotine itself has not been shown to be a carcinogen, however in some tests on laboratory animals’ nicotine and its metabolites increased the incidences of tumors. Its presence may inhibit the natural ability of your body to get rid of cells with significant genetic damage before they turn cancerous.Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants, predominantly in tobacco, and in lower quantities in tomato, potato, eggplant (aubergine), and green pepper. Nicotine constitutes 0.3 to 5 of the tobacco plant by dry weight, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots, and accumulates in the leaves. It is a potent nerve poisin and is included in many insecticides. Only 60 mg of pure nicotine placed on the tongue would kill in minutes. If a child were to ingest a 15 mg. nicotine patch, they could die from heart failure or respiratory paralysis. The amounts of nicotine that are tolerated by adult smokers can produce symptoms of poisoning and could prove fatal in children. This could also happen to adults, but the dosage would have to be higher.Nicotine is also in processed tobacco in one form or another. There are many studies conducted which link the use of tobacco to fatal cancers, heart attacks, diabetes, emphysema and angina. Smokers with coronary heart disease or a history of myocardial infarction and/or angina pectoris, serious cardiac arrhythmias, or vassopastic diseases (Buerger’s disease, Prinzmetal’s variant angina and Raynaud’s phenomena) should avoid nicotine.Many types of tobacco products are consumed throughout the world but the most popular form of nicotine use is cigarette smoking. More than 5500 billion cigarettes are manufactured annually and there are 1,300 million smokers in the world.Cigarette smoking, the main way we take nicotine into our bloodstream, is the single greatest cause of preventable diseases. In the United States alone, cigarette smoking causes over 1,000 deaths per day and is responsible for about one quarter of the cancer deaths and one third of all coronary heart disease. In the twenty-first century, tobacco, if unchecked, will lead to one billion deaths worldwide.Cigarette smoking during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of spontaneous abortion, low birth weight infants and perinatal mortality. Nicotine is considered to be the most likely mediator of these outcomes.Scientists have known that children of women who smoke during pregnancy can develop hearing-related cognitive deficits. Now for the first time, researchers believe they have evidence that not only implicates nicotine as the culprit, but also shows what the substance does to the brain to cause these deficits.It also increases the incidence of atherosclerosis, strokes, and peripheral vascular disease. Diseases of the lungs—colds, flu’s, acute bronchitis, pneumonia, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and lung cancer—are all much more common in smokers.Other infections or allergies are also prevalent and rapid aging of the body and especially the skin results from the generally poor oxygenation of tissues and the other chemicals and physiological effects of regular cigarette smoking.The modern cigarette is extremely complex. Each cigarette smoked delivers about 1 mg of nicotine. It contains everything from sugar to liquorice, chocolate, herbs and spices. There are 8000 or more chemicals that come out when you light it and having them delivered in the right ratios is a substantial engineering feat. Other harmful chemicals found in cigarettes include: Acetone - used in nail varnish remover, Ammonia - used in dry cleaning fluids, Arsenic - used in pest control and insecticides, Benzene - used in chemical manufacture, Cadmium - used in batteries and Formaldehyde - used to preserve dead bodies.Finally, while nicotine from a cigarette reaches the brain within 20 seconds and creates a dependency almost immediately, the good news is that nicotine is generally out of your bloodstream within three days after you stop smoking.
About the Author
Ciaran J Newman is a past Chairperson and Fellow of the Irish Institute of Training
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