Cotinine

Cotinine is a metabolite (breakdown product) of nicotine in the body. It results from exposure to nicotine. The word "cotinine" is an anagram of "nicotine." The level of cotinine in the blood is directly proportionate to the amount of exposure to tobacco smoke, making cotinine a valuable indicator of a person's amount of tobacco smoke exposure, including exposure to secondhand smoke.

Cotinine has been found in the urine of babies of people who smoke. One study found that babies of parents who smoked had cotinine levels more than five times higher than babies of nonsmoking parents. Maternal smoking had the biggest effect, quadrupling the babies' cotinine levels. Paternal smoking nearly doubled the babies' cotinine levels.

As a Pollutant
Because humans and animals often do not fully metabolize pharmaceuticals in their body, they can excrete drugs or their breakdown products, which may the enter the environment.

In Sewage Sludge
Cotinine has been found in sewage sludge. In the Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey, a 2009 test of 84 samples of sewage sludge from around the U.S., the EPA found cotinine in 39 samples (46%) in concentrations ranging from 11.4 to 690 parts per billion. There are no federal regulations governing how much of this drug may be present in sewage sludge applied to land as fertilizer.

In Drinking Water
An Associated Press investigation found that, of 62 metropolitan areas in the U.S., only 28 tested for pharmaceuticals, and 24 found pharmaceuticals in the drinking water when they tested it. The following cities tested positive for cotinine: Atlanta, Milwaukee, Northern New Jersey, and Philadelphia.

Related Sourcewatch Articles

 * Tobacco
 * Nicotine
 * Sewage Sludge
 * Biosolids
 * Food Rights Network

External Resources
search_term=cotinine

External Articles

 * Chem Info - Cotinine, Centers for Disease Control