effects of nicotine

[nailit]

We all know that smoking is bad for your health but is 'pure' nicotine bad for you? ie, nicotine gum or patches?

[LazyGun]

Its an alkaloid.
Its the addictive part of cigarettes. In small enough doses, it acts as a stimulant, but it thought to be as habit forming as heroin. It has psychoactive properties, so getting hooked on such a product is never a good idea.
It is an extremely toxic material - relatively small doses can be lethal to humans.

So, on balance, yes, even pure nicotine is bad for you....

[nailit]

Thanks Lazygun,
can you give me any links to say that pure nicotine is toxic? I know thats its habit forming but im interested in the harmful affects and how lethal it is.
I know that smoking can cause lung / mouth/ throat cancer etc but what about nicotine on its own (without the added chemicals of cigarrettes)?

[Postdog]

As someone who has been chewing nicotine gum since the 90's, I have no ill effects I can attribute to it,

[LazyGun]

@Postdog - Well thats good for you then, isn't it? :) As with many things, the dose makes the poison ( to paraphrase paracelsus). Obviously, you chronic long term intake of nicotine has not hit the critical mark. Doesn't make taking nicotine a good idea.

A reference for you , Nailit - Wiki has a good article, including some observations on lethal dose by looking at the LD50 levels.
http://en.wikipedia.o...ki/Nicotine_poisoning

[nailit]

Cheers lazy, will have a look now.
I was always lead to believe that nicotine wasnt actually harmfull and that it was the additional chemicals in cigarettes that were the main culprits in harming health.

[LazyGun]

@Nailit - \if you are looking at deaths due to smoking, that is correct. The causes of death through smoking are through cancer and respiratory/cardiocascular problems, which are not directly attributable to nicotine.
What nicotine does is to act as a hook, a habit which becomes very difficult to break.
However, just because we can now separate nicotine from the other constituents of cigarettes/tobacco/cigars does not make it safe, nor a good thing to take, simply because it will still feed the addiction, and because nicotine itself is extremely toxic, and people can suffer ill-effects through exposire to large quantities - even death.

[Postdog]

I should have added that I chew because I cannot give up ciggies successfully. Chewing the gum is more preferable to smoking the fags.

The doctors do clinics to give up smoking but not NRT therapies....

[EvianBaby]

I have heard previously if you were to inject nicotine, as you might heroin, the nicotine would kill you.