10 Things you might not Know about Nicotine

The following are a few interesting facts that you might not have known about nicotine.  This can be helpful to those of you who are trying to defend your decision to vape E-cigarettes from the sceptical mindsets of friends, family, co-workers, etc.  The misconception that nicotine is a carcinogen, and a dangerous drug, is often confused with the many other chemicals specifically in cigarettes that are carcinogenic, dangerous, unhealthy, etc.  The following is a list of many of the health benefits of nicotine:

1.  There are over 4,000 chemicals in the average cigarette… many of them carcinogenic.  Nicotine is NOT one of them.

2.  Nicotine has been found to reduce approach-avoidance behavior in animals, and healthy human volunteers.

3.  Nicotine interacts with cell membranes in such a way as to ease the passage of certain ions through the membrane.  This aids in, among other things, the communication between synapses in your brain, increasing cognitive functions.

4.  Nicotine has been found to substantially increase immediate as well as long-term memory abilities.

5.  Nicotine increases attentiveness in patients who suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease.

6.  Nicotine is used for certain types of neurodegenerative pain issues, and also pain problems associated with come mental disorders.

7.  Nicotine can be used as analgesia for postoperative recovery.

8.  Nicotine is being researched as a possible additive to opioid medicinal regimens, because it stimulates respiration, opposing the opioid’s tendency to depress respiration.  It also increases alertness in sharp contrast to opiod’s well-known “drowsiness” effects.

9.  Nicotine decreases appetite, as much if not more than cannabinoids increase it.

10.  Nicotine is currently being considered as treatment against such diseases and disorders as ADD/ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, inflammatory skin disorders and injuries, obesity, and ulcerative colitis.

There is one thing holding nicotine back from the many positive uses that it is capable of… disinformation (properly defined as the purposeful conveying of untrue facts as opposed to misinformation which is merely accidental).  Cigarettes and nicotine have become a hot-button political health issue that has long since ceased to be about actual health and now has more to do with which sides buys and pays for the most politicians.  Enter into the mix, electronic cigarettes, which deliver nicotine, and only nicotine in a way that’s outwardly reminiscent of the smoking of “real” or “analog” tobacco cigarettes.  The politics of the issue make it easy to demonize something that is even remotely similar to tobacco cigarettes. But don’t let them get away with it!  And when you hear negative “scientific” evidence about e-cigarettes, try to find the other side of the story… because there’s always another side to the story.  There is a lot of valid, correctly-done scientific work being done out there regarding the health benefits of e-cigarettes.  On the other side of the coin is poorly constructed, statistically skewed “scientific” information regarding the health dangers of e-cigarettes.  Don’t let them scare you back to smoking!  You know you feel better now that you’re vaping than you did when you were still smoking.

Sources:

SFATA- Effects of Nicotine

Anxiolytic effects of nicotine in a rodent test of approach-avoidance conflict.

Nicotine as a cognitive enhancer.

Nicotine as Therapy

World Health Organization- “Cigarettes are healthy!”

I’m not going to elaborate too much on this topic.  The original author has done a more than adequate job at contradicting this intensely ignorant and, for lack of a better word, stupid statement issued by the so-called World Health Organization or WHO, as in, “WHO the F**k Actually Listens to these asses (or arses, for you British folk out there)?”  The statement, made recently in the Philippines by Dr Florante Trinidad (WHO Western Pacific Region), suggests that the nicotine present in E-cig users’ atomized vapor is soaked directly into the lungs, whereas (analog) cigarettes employ the use of filters.

The author, Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos (I’m getting a Greek vibe from this name), points out that smokers are subjected to much higher levels of nicotine per puff than are E-cig vapers.  He also highlights the truth about nicotine… that it is not necessarily, by itself, dangerous.  It is not a carcinogen.  It does not cause lung disease.  It’s moderately risky for people suffering from high blood pressure problems, but even then… caffeine is probably more risky.  Dr. Farsalinos relays all of the counter-information against this WHO disinformation (I would like to point out that disinformation differs from misinformation in that it is intentionally misleading) in a way that is thoroughly substantiated with links to original scientific documents, previously released scientific findings, etc.  Don’t pass up this article!

The only thing I’d like to add to the information provided by Dr. Farsalinos is the fact that the Tobacco industry have been paying a lot of attention to Southeast Asia of late.  This is mainly due to the fact that Many Southeast Asia countries, like Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines are among the least regulated countries in the world as far as tobacco-smoking is concerned.  Big Tobacco is focusing on this cash cow, because the increasing restrictions and anti-smoking trends in other countries are beginning to cut into their profits.  However, the E-cigarette industry has really taken off in Southeast Asia as well.  Just look up “E-cigarettes” and/or “vape/vaping” on Facebook.  You’ll see that an extremely large number of your search returns will be profiles, pages, and groups centered in countries like Malaysia and the Philippines.  So, Big Tobacco is feeling very threatened by the E-cig industry in these specific countries.  You could say the same thing about the E-cigarette industry here, but the FDA is in line to be more easily manipulated by the tobacco corporations than is the Philippine version of the FDA.  This means that Big Tobacco will have less control over the growing popularity of E-cigarettes in Asia than they will in America, and therefore they want to crush it.

Secondhand Vaping? Are you Serious, FDA?

I suppose this was wholly inevitable.  The majestic Food and Drug Administration is now suggesting that people who are in the same room as someone enjoying their new found health through an E-cigarette filled with clean, harmless ingredients (Yes, nicotine is actually harmless under most circumstances… Google it!) are now in danger of catching the cancer and dying a horrible screaming death, alone and unloved.

According to their Holiness, the FDA, the emitted smoke (yes, they actually believe that e-cigarettes emit smoke) contains “ultra-fine liquid particles” (just like in real smoke, right?) laden with every carcinogen known to man… including lead.  So, it’s safe to say that the FDA has moved completely over to fiction now in their announcements, statements, and official documentation.  But my question to them is this:  What about the massive quantities of rat poison in printer ink which is propelled through the air on the backs of sound waves created by the noisy printer motor?  Or how ’bout those deadly, irradiated flubblerictens that fall off of spiderwebs hanging over airport bathroom stalls on Thursday afternoons?  See, I can make up wild, senseless facts, too!

The one thing that bothers me the most about this new vomitous schlock spewed forth from the Big Tobacco-owned lips of the FDA is their insistence on referring to E-cigarette vapor as “emissions.”  This is a great example of wordage chosen specifically to invoke a conditioned response.  The conditioned response in this case is a negative one, due to the association of the word “emissions” with the chemical fumes given off by vehicles and industrial machines.  Someone in the insane asylum of the FDA is at the very least skilled enough in spin doctoring to use a word with extremely negative popular connotations to, in turn, condition a new response in the reader/viewer.  The response they want to instill in you is that E-cigarettes pollute the air with dangerous, poisonous emissions and must be slain at all costs to save our children and our childrens’ children from man-eating, flesh-charring, fire-breathing demon dragons from Hell… or something like that.

P.S.  Pay attention to the interesting fact that each time the FDA releases yet another statement on the dangers of E-cigarettes, they conveniently add another non-existent, poisonous component, or additive to E-cig vapor… Now we’re up to the following list:  tobacco-specific nitrosamines, volatile organic compounds, acetone, form aldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzo(a)pyrene as well as silicate and various metal particles (sodium, iron, aluminum, nickel, copper, magnesium, lead, chromium, manganese, while potassium, and zinc) are all present in something that doesn’t actually consist of ANY of that.  Let’s see what else we can add next time.  And by the way, aren’t you (FDA) trying to regulate E-cigarettes specifically so that Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds can add their own, addiction-increasing, cancer-causing additives to their own brands of E-cigs?  Can you say “inconsistent contradictions?”