Did You Know That Nicotine Is Addictive?

Posted: 7/26/2015

Trigger

The American Chemical Society thought it was important to tell people in a recent news release E-cigarettes may be as addictive as traditional ones "Free-base and Protonated Nicotine in Electronic Cigarette Liquids and Aerosols" Chemical Research in Toxicology. It reads e.g. “But because e-cig liquid also contains nicotine and emits carcinogens, ... One team now reports in the ACS journal Chemical Research in Toxicology that much of the nicotine in e-cigarettes is the addictive form of the compound. … Out of three forms, scientists believe “free-base” nicotine is the only one that gets absorbed by the body, making it the most addictive kind. … The researchers tested commercial samples of liquids made for the devices and found that, by and large, the nicotine was in the most addictive form. They also determined that the concentration of nicotine varied and often didn’t match the concentrations the labels claimed.”.

Here is the link to the above mentioned scientific paper “Free-Base and Protonated Nicotine in Electronic Cigarette Liquids and Aerosols” (subscription required)

Notes

1. The ACS news article appears to be a hit piece making insinuations not worthy of a scientific society
2. The article does not explain what the three forms of Nicotine are, but all of them appear addictive
3. The article uses the term “free base” nicotine, which does not appears to be a proper scientific term and further it appears to be mentioned in conjunction with tobacco smoke
4. The other, rather unsubstantiated claim by ACS is that e-cigs “emit carcinogens” (insinuating like traditional tobacco smoke)
5. Even if it is in the most addictive form, perhaps this is how customers like it and want it. :-)
6. Finally, ACS claims that the concentration of Nicotine does not match the one listed in label. Well, this can be easily fixed and may have happened accidentally or is this another insinuation? How did the manufacturers respond to these claims by ACS?