Is Nicotine Harmful?

With the market littered with new products that only contain nicotine, one might suspect that nicotine itself is not harmful. Certain advertisements for e-cigarettes even call the cigarette “safe” at times, but the real facts are that nicotine is harmful, and some of the effects of the other chemicals that are inhaled during the vaporizing process are unknown. While users of these products may feel better about “smoking” a vaporizing cigarette because of the lack of cancer causing tar, there are many reasons why nicotine is harmful.

Nicotine is Considered a Poison

The German scientists that first isolated nicotine in the mid 1800s probably did so because the extract had proved a formidable ally for the fight against insects and other pests. The nicotine spray easily absorbed through the skin of the insect and killed it. The isolated nicotine was used in a rather popular insecticide called Black Leaf 40, which has since been banned. Just 40 milliliters of pure nicotine, a few drops, can kill an adult who is not a smoker. Longtime users of nicotine replacement therapies also report many effects from the use of nicotine, including hair loss and heart arrhythmia, most likely from the extended use of the poison.

Nicotine Raises Your Heart Rate

While not everyone who smokes sufferers from heart disease, many die from heart disease rather than cancer. This is especially true for African Americans, who are much more likely to die from a heart attack initiated by the nicotine’s effects. Most nicotine replacement products warn that consumers with heart conditions should not use the therapy.

Nicotine is Addictive

Nicotine is the substance in tobacco that makes users want more and more of it. Nicotine changes your brain chemistry so that you experience withdrawal, sometimes severe, when it is removed. This is especially true for smokers who started early, while their brains were still developing. This addictive property makes pure nicotine more dangerous than tobacco itself. Because nicotine is highly flammable, most of the nicotine is released into the atmosphere while tobacco is burning. While vaporized nicotine is much more available for ingestion.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/jan2001/nida-30.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15147304

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