According to Galaxy Goo, a website dedicated to advancing science knowledge, nicotine is the main ingredient in the leaves of the tobacco plant. Lobeline is another plant alkaloid that acts like and is similar to nicotine. Lobeline is extracted from the herb and seeds of Indian tobacco found in Canada and the United States. These plant leaves are also known as wild tobacco, asthma weed and vomit wart. Nicotine is the main addictive ingredient in cigarettes, pipe tobacco, cigars, smokeless tobacco and smoking-cessation gums and patches.
Nicotine
The Nicotine Addiction website indicates that nicotine is a drug that causes stimulation as well as relaxation. The way that a cigarette can affect the human psyche and perception depends on the mental and physical state of the smoker, the website notes. Nicotine is addictive in that it triggers the release of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a chemical neurotransmitter that is related to feelings of pleasure. In February 2000 the Royal College of physicians published a report on nicotine addiction that indicated that cigarettes deliver nicotine in the brain and are highly addictive.
Cigarette Smoke
The Centers for Disease Control states that smoke inhaled from other people smoking near or around a nonsmoker is dangerous. The center notes that secondhand smoke is a mixture of gases and fine particles such as nicotine byproducts like cotinine. This smoke byproduct causes health conditions in children, including sudden infant death syndrome, middle ear problems, severe asthma and respiratory infections. The CDC reported that approximately 54 percent of children between the ages of 3 to 11 are exposed to secondhand smoke. The center states that 88 million nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke. In addition, secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and heart disease in people who do not smoke but who are exposed to the smoke from cigarettes and other smoking products such as cigar and pipe tobacco.
Expert Insight
The Centers for Disease Control found that cigarettes manufactured in the United States had higher levels of cancer-causing chemicals. The CDC study worked with 126 persons from Australia, Canada, the UK and the U.S. who were daily smokers to participate in their study. The center indicated that U.S. brands of cigarettes carry tobacco-specific nitrosamines called TSNA's, the cancer-causing agents in tobacco, than smokers inhaling foreign cigarette brands. The center analyzed the TSNA's in the urine of the smokers as well as the cigarette remains of their smoked cigarettes to determine the results.
