This link will take you to an interesting interview with Theodore Slotkin, Ph.D. from Duke University. He is:
Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Professor in Neurobiology
http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/poison/nicotine/ted.htm
The very last answer he gave to the interviewer is particularly pertinant for anyone who thinks that Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) is safe and that Nicotine is not dangerous. Don’t believe the ads. It’s poison.
And I quote:
“Nicotine itself is sufficiently toxic that if you took the nicotine in a cigar and injected it you would die. In fact, in designing nicotine patches, one of the major issues that had to be addressed was what happens if you damage the patch. You wouldn’t want the entire amount of nicotine in the patch to be absorbed instantly, because that would also be lethal. To give you an example of how toxic nicotine is, we have liquid nicotine free base in the laboratory which we have to keep stored in a sealed container with absorbent around it and a hood to trap the vapour because it volatilises. So no vapour is inhaled when you handle the bottle, you have to wear two sets of gloves. That’s because if you spill it on your skin, you could absorb a lethal amount. So it is a fairly toxic substance. But you know, Paracelsus pointed out that all drugs are poisons. We simply use them as drugs because of the way they poison some things before they poison us completely. Nicotine isn’t particularly spectacular in that regard. However, most people don’t realise that when they’re walking around with a packet of cigarettes, they’re in fact carrying lethal doses of nicotine.”
