Nic-the Habit: Cigarettesmokingkills.com

25 % of Americans smoke and 75% of non smokers are effected by Environmental Tobacco Smoke via SECOND HAND SMOKE. Second Hand Smoke is dangerous. Please don't smoke around children.

Second Hand Smoke (Should Parents be liable for illnesses they cause by smoking around their children?)

What happens when both parents smoke around in their homes and cars and children are present? Is this abuse?

Can infants metabolize Nicotine as Adults can? Can babies metabolize the 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke when parents smoke around them in their cars and at home. Can child suffer from Nicotine Poision?

What happens when one parent smokes around the child and smokes more than one pack a day. What if the other parent is against it and the infants is sick with second-hand-smoke related illnesses? Can the non-smoking parent sue his spouse for willfully causing their child harm? Answer?

I have one parent, who phoned me in 2004, who believes the mother of his child has caused seizures in their 9-month old child. The mother refuses to stop smoking and the 9 month is in a home, where 5 or more people smoke. He is separated from the mother and she won't allow him to get their child urine tested for Nicotine metabolites and toxins. It is believed that over 100 cigarettes are smoke a day around this child. The child suffers for second-hand-smoke related illnesses. Is this fair?

Nicotine overdose
Provided by A.D.A.M., Inc. Overview | Treatment
Definition

Poisoning from an overdose of nicotine.
Poisonous Ingredient

* nicotine

Where Found

* some animal tranquilizers
* some brands of insecticide
* tobacco leaves
* cigarettes
* chewing tobacco
* pipe tobacco
* nicotine gum (Nicorette)
* nicotine-transdermal-patches (Habitrol, Nicoderm)

Note: This list may not be all inclusive.
Symptoms

* body as a whole
o muscular twitching
o weakness
o convulsions
o coma
o collapse
* respiratory
o difficulty breathing
o rapid breathing
o no breathing
* eyes, ears, nose, and throat
o dilated pupils
* gastrointestinal
o abdominal cramps
o vomiting
o drooling (increased salivation)
o burning in mouth causing mouth lesions
* heart and blood vessels
o rapid and pounding heartbeat followed by slow heart rate
o elevated blood pressure followed by decreased blood pressure
* nervous system
o confusion
o excitement
o depression
o headache
o agitation
o restlessness

Last Reviewed: 2/11/2001 by Kevin G. Wheeler, M.D., Department of Emergency Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

Tobacco Smoke contains more than 4000 chemicals. Here is just a small list of the all the poisons and cancer causing chemical you inhale each and every time you smoke. Wake up! Smoking has absolutely no benefits to you and second hand smoke can cause innocent victims harm from the poisonous substances found in smoker's laden cancer sticks and pipes. In 1986, reports by both the U.S. National Research Council and the U.S. Surgeon General concluded that second-hand smoke causes lung cancer in adult non-smokers, and that children of parents who smoke have an increased frequency of respiratory symptoms and acute lower respiratory tract infections, as well as evidence of reduced lung function. Recent studies indicate that levels of exposure to second-hand smoke are higher in restaurants and bars than in office workplaces or other businesses. Workers in restaurants and bars must be given the same public health protection as federal and provincial employees, especially due to the formers' increased risk of lung cancer and heart disease because of the higher level of exposure to second-hand smoke. Why has not OSHEA stepped in?

Major Bloomberg of New York will be saving lives. Current scientific evidence indicates that there is no safe level of exposure to any carcinogenic substance. Second-hand smoke, the number one cause of environmental cancer, must be eliminated from the workplace and enclosed public places. Eliminating second-hand smoke from the workplace and enclosed public places can no longer be considered a debatable issue, but must become a reality. Publicly, the tobacco industry has also denied that ETS exposure has adverse health effects, even though internal research supports the conclusion that secondhand smoke is potentially hazardous (Barnes, Hanauer, Slade, Bero, & Glantz, 1995). According to the Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has shown supporting evidence that non-smoking casino employees have substantially higher levels of serum cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, than the general population (Trout et al., 1998). blood levels of cotinine is an important indicator of the absorption of nicotine into the body. Many restaurant and bar owners claim that the law has hurt their businesses, and many smokers feel as though they are being treated as second-class citizens. Some even feel that if they ban cigarettes, WHAT WILL BE NEXT. Should it be alcohol. I say NO. Alcohol used as indicated and not abused does not cause innocent victims of its toxins. Smoking is radically different, I can absorb most of the toxins and cancer causing substances along with nicotine, without even smoking. Some figures suggest that the toxins can last hours within the air. So how can one rate alcohol use to tobacco. We have banned drinking and driving because it is dangerous. Now the government is attempting to ban smoking in any indoor- public area,to also be illegal. WHY? Because Second Hand Smoke is an environmental hazard and potentially dangerous. The government IS NOT TRYING TO TAKE AWAY YOUR FREEDOM, but INSTEAD to help workers and non-smokers from possible cancer causing substances. Would you go into a room with asbestos, Lead and CYANIDE. Well these substances are also in the air when you smoke. Some says everything now a days is potential dangerous. Well this may be true, but this is not the point. The point of the clean air bill is to help employees and non smokers, the right to the cleanest possible air quality within a workplace. We can't eradicate all the pollutants in the air from smog, automobiles, and others beyond our control. Banning tobacco smoking from public places. just makes good old American sense.

A nonsmoker working in a smoke filled room for eight hours will breathe as many cancer-causing chemicals as if he or she had smoked 36 cigarettes.
• Nicotine components have been found in urine of non smokers
• Over 60 % of smoke from a cigarette is not inhaled by the smoker, but enters the air around the smoker.
• Second-hand smoke has at least twice the nicotine and tar as the smoke inhaled by the smoker.
• Regular exposure to second-hand smoke increases the chances of contracting lung disease by 25% and heart disease by 10%.
• Second-hand smoke aggravates symptoms in people with allergies and asthma, and can cause eye, nose and throat irritations, headaches, dizziness, nausea, coughing and wheezing in otherwise healthy people. We have enough pollution from the air we breath, why add more?
• Smoking around minors should be illegal and one day children may sue their parents for giving them smoking related illnesses.
• Children have a higher metabolism and can absorb higher amounts of smoke than adults. Childhood exposure to ETS may also contribute to cardiovascular disease in adulthood
• Infants and children exposed to second-hand smoke are more likely to suffer chronic respiratory illness, impaired lung function, middle ear infections, food allergies and can even succumb to sudden infant death syndrome.

This is a message from http://www.epa.gov The US Environmental Protection Agency to Smokers.

A Special Message For Smokers
This is a difficult time to be a smoker. As the public becomes more aware that smoking is not only a hazard to you but also to others, nonsmokers are becoming more outspoken, and smokers are finding themselves a beleaguered group.
• If you choose to smoke, here are some things you can do to help protect the people close to you:
• Don't smoke around children. Their lungs are very susceptible to smoke. If you are expecting a child, quit smoking.
• Take an active role in the development of your company's smoking policy. Encourage the offering of smoking cessation programs for those who want them.
• Keep your home smoke free. Nonsmokers can get lung cancer from exposure to your smoke. Because smoke lingers in the air, people may be exposed even if they are not present while you smoke.
• If you must smoke inside, limit smoking to a room where you can open windows for cross-ventilation.
• Be sure the room in which you smoke has a working smoke detector to lessen the risk of fire.
• Test your home for radon. Radon contamination in combination with smoking is a much greater health risk than either one individually.
• Don't smoke in an automobile with the windows closed if passengers are present. The high concentration of smoke in a small, closed compartment substantially increases the exposure of other passengers.
• More than two million people quit smoking every year, most of them on their own, without the aid of a program or medication.
• If you want to quit smoking, assistance is available. Smoking cessation programs can help. Your employer may offer programs, or ask your doctor for advice.

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO QUIT

Nicotine in the brain activates the same reward system as other drugs of abuse such as cocaine or amphetamine, although to a lesser degree. Nicotine's action on this reward system is believed to be responsible for drug-induced feelings of pleasure and, over time, addiction. Nicotine also has the effect of increasing alertness and enhancing mental performance. In the cardiovascular system, nicotine increases heart rate and blood pressure and restricts blood flow to the heart muscle. The drug stimulates the release of the hormone epinephrine, which further stimulates the nervous system and is responsible for part of the "kick" from nicotine. It also promotes the release of the hormone beta-endorphin, which inhibits pain.
People addicted to nicotine experience withdrawal when they stop smoking. This withdrawal involves symptoms such as anger, anxiety, depressed mood, difficulty concentrating, increased appetite, and craving for nicotine. Most of these symptoms subside within 3 to 4 weeks, except for the craving and hunger, which may persist for months. Health professionals helping smokers with co-factors to quit smoking may have to treat the depression, anxiety, ADHD or binge-eating behaviors first or simultaneously. A 1995 study found that Prozac helped smokers with depression to quit but it had no effect on smokers who were not depressed," she said. "It is possible that some of these patients wouldn't need nicotine replacement treatment once they received appropriate medications or psychotherapy for their underlying conditions."
I am my no means suggestion Prozac as a solution for depressions or withdrawal symptoms to help quit. I am offering other solutions and attempting to let you know that your depression when quitting is real, but not impossible to combat. I had extreme depression when I quit smoking. Some researchers believe Nicotine may be masking depression that become only evident when one attempts to stop smoking. Taking chemicals to solve emotional and spiritual problems is NOT THE ANSWER. Because Nicotine plays with your brain chemistry and your pleasure chemicals within the brain, Quitting can without a doubt cause severe depression.

Effects on the body

In small doses nicotine has a stimulating effect, increasing activity, alertness and memory. Repeat users report a pleasant relaxing effect. It also increases the heart rate and blood pressure and reduces the appetite. In large doses it may cause vomiting and nausea. The LD50 is 50 mg/kg for rats and 3 mg/kg for mice.

Repeat users of nicotine become physically addicted. A report by US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop released on May 16, 1988 stated that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine. Withdrawal symptoms include irritability, headaches and anxiety. These symptoms may last for months or years, although they peak at around 48-72 hours.

Although the amount of nicotine inhaled with tobacco smoke is quite small (most of the substance is destroyed by the heat) it is still sufficient to cause addiction. The amount of nicotine absorbed by the body from smoking depends on many factors, including the type of tobacco, whether the smoke is inhaled, and whether a filter is used.

As nicotine enters the body, it quickly gets distributed through the bloodstream and can cross the blood-brain barrier. On average it takes about seven seconds for the substance to reach the brain. It acts on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. In small concentrations it increases the activity of these receptors, among other things leading to an increased flow of adrenaline, a stimulating hormone. The release of adrenaline causes an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and respiration, as well as higher glucose levels in the blood. In high doses, nicotine blocks the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, which is the reason for its toxicity and its effectiveness as an insecticide.

In addition, nicotine increases dopamine levels in the reward circuits of the brain. Studies have shown that smoking tobacco inhibits monoamine oxidase (MAO), an enzyme responsible for breaking down monoaminergic neurotransmitters such as dopamine, in the brain. It is current believed that nicotine by itself does not inhibit the production of monoamine oxidase (MAO), but that other ingredients in inhaled tobacco smoke are believed to be responsible for this activity. Thus it generates feelings of pleasure. This reaction is similar to that caused by cocaine and heroin, and is another reason for the addictive nature of nicotine: people keep smoking to sustain high dopamine levels.

It has been noted that the majority of people diagnosed with schizophrenia smoke tobacco. Estimates for the number of schizophrenics that smoke range from 75% to 90%. It is argued that the increased level of smoking in schizophrenia may be due to a desire to self-medicate with nicotine.

History and name

Nicotine is named after the tobacco plant Nicotiana tabacum which in turn is named after Jean Nicot, who sent tobacco seeds from Portugal to Paris in 1550 and promoted its medicinal use. It was first isolated in 1828; its molecular formula was established in 1843 and it was first synthesized in 1904.