British American Tobacco's Nicotine Review

This 126- page, undated British American Tobacco (BAT) document, Nicotine Review, is an exhaustive internal analysis of the drug nicotine. It covers in minute detail how nicotine affects the structure and function of the body; how it works to maintain smoking behavior, how it affects the brain, central nervous system and cardiovascular systems, whether people develop tolerance to it, and more.

Some key quotes from the document:

Quotes:

(from page 39 of the document)

"During smoke inhalation the dose of nicotine reaches the brain rapidly for the reasons outlined above and indeed it has been reported that nicotine will reach the brain within a few seconds of inhalation. This observation has led to the statement that smoke inhalation is like injecting nicotine directly into the carotid artery (the vessel supplying blood the the brain)."

(From Page 71 of the document):

There have been reports of an increase in frequency of arrhythmias (increases in the irregular electrical activity of heart) following nicotine administration, this observation is believed to be associated with sudden cardiac arrest.

The changes in the circulating catecholamine levels arising from nicotine intake, particularly adrenaline, influence whole body metabolism. Adrenaline can stimulate glycogenalysis, mobilizing glucose stores and causing an elevation of the circulating glucose levels and in extreme circumstances will give rise to hyperglycemia. ...The consequences of this effect ... is believed to be important for diabetic smokers.

(from page 74 of the document:)

"Psychological aspects of nicotine are thought to be mediated primarily through the interactions of this pharmacologically active material with the CNS [central nervous system]."

(from Page 78:)

"There is a considerable body of...data implicating cigarette smoking in the development of cardiovascular disease. The epidemiological data although complex, indicates a positive statistical association between cigarette smoking and cardiovascular disease incidence."

(from Page 84):

"In addition to these observations it has been reported that the cells lining the vessel walls, the endothelial cells, can undergo pathological changes and also be found circulating in blood following nicotine administration.  These findings are indicative of mechanical damage or cellular disorganization of the arterial lining following a nicotine dose."

(From Page 86):

"It has been suggesteed that in the case of cigarette smokers, the absorbed smoke components ... may damage the arterial wall through direct (highly reactive free radicals) or indirect action...resulting in smooth muscle cell mutation. There is no evidence that nicotine is involved in this process."

(from page 91)

"... Nicotine has been evaluated in another type of bacteriological mutagenic test system involving E. coli. In this test system it has been demonstrated that nicotine can induce damage to genetic material."

(from Page 92)

"... the level of nicotine in [smoke] condensate (and in general the tobacco blend level) can increase the specific [biological] activity of smoke ..."

"... both sets of results indicated that the specific activity (tumor incidence rate relative to the weight of condensate) in terms of total tumor incidence was positiviely related to the blend nicotine level."

(from Page 96)

(ii) nicotine per se may have co-carcinogenic properties (i.e. serving to enhance the tumorigenic potential of condensate whilst not exhibiting tumorigenic potential itself). (iii) as part of normal combustion the presence of nicotine may give rise to products with specific tumorigenic properties.

Title:	 Nicotine Review Document Date:	 00000000 Document Type: bibliography/diagram/chart/review Bates Number:	 110168659/8784 Country:	 United States of America, United Kingdom, Cuba, Germany, Mali Collection:	 British American Tobacco Pages: 126 URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/xvm24a99

Related Sourcewatch resources

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 * Freebase nicotine