Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes

Nicotine Levels Up in Cigarettes

Are you trying to quit smoking? Or do you have a friend or family member who’s trying to quit? If so, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.

First the good news (such as it is): Another excellent item has been added to the list of Good Reasons to Quit Smoking. A new study reveals that the nicotine content in more than 50 different brands of cigarettes is about 10 percent higher than it was eight years ago, according to a report in the Washington Post.

The bad news – same as the good news: The nicotine content in more than 50 different brands of cigarettes is about 10 percent higher than it was eight years ago. And that will probably make it much harder to quit.

Reginald V. Fant – a clinical pharmacologist and nicotine expert with an independent consulting firm – told the Post, “We know that physiologically the changes in the nicotine receptors in the brain are related to the amount of nicotine consumed.”

The rise in nicotine levels was discovered in a Massachusetts Department of Public Health study that examined 116 cigarette brands from 1998 to 2004.

Matthew L. Myers called the reports “stunning.” Myers is president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. He told the Post that the consistency of the nicotine increase, “leads to the conclusion that it has to have been conscious and deliberate.”

Sources:

“Nicotine Up Sharply in Many Cigarettes” David Brown, The Washington Post, 8/31/06, washingtonpost.com