OF NICOTINE INTO HAIR

To assess passive smoking , the dosage of nicotine in the urine or saliva is very limited. A new method, this time using the hair, seems more efficient.

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Passive smoking is increasingly recognized as being harmful to health. However, these adverse effects are very difficult to assess. The assay of urinary nicotine as quickly as salivary having shown its limitations, it became imperative to find other reliable indicators.

Any history of passive smoking in a single hair

The measurement of nicotine in hair may be the answer. Indeed, growth is slow and little affected by changes daily exposure to passive smoking. This new method makes it possible to reconstruct a history over the long term: an inch of hair is an exhibition than a month. However, two factors must be considered:

• a speed of hair growth varies among individuals;
• certain chemicals such as bleach, change the level of nicotine found in hair.

of nicotine in hair may be the answer. Indeed, growth is slow and little affected by changes daily exposure to passive smoking. This new method makes it possible to reconstruct a history over the long term: an inch of hair is an exhibition than a month. However, two factors must be considered:

Attention, nicotine can be installed anywhere

This study provides an additional very interesting. Smoking parents who reported not smoking at home, but only outside, do not fully protect their children. Indeed, among the latter are found nicotine levels intermediate between those whose parents do not smoke and those whose parents smoke at home. Conclusion, nicotine permeates everything: clothes, furniture, air expired? Note: when smoked in a room, nicotine is still detected 12 hours later!