Critical review: nicotine for the fetus, the infant and the adolescent?

The recent expansion of Nicotine Replacement Therapy to pregnant women and children ignores the fact that nicotine impairs, disrupts, duplicates and/or interacts with essential physiological functions and is involved in tobacco-related carcinogenesis. The main concerns in the present context are its fetotoxicity and neuroteratogenicity that can cause cognitive, affective and behavioral disorders in children born to mothers exposed to nicotine during pregnancy, and the detrimental effects of nicotine on the growing organism. Hence, the use of nicotine, whose efficacy in treating nicotine addiction is controversial even in adults, must be strictly avoided in pregnancy, breastfeeding, childhood and adolescence.

Hazards smokers impose.

Tobacco smoke is the single most important source of exposure for the nonsmoking population to harmful air pollution. Uptake, biological reaction, and associated pathology document the potential for serious health consequences, raise ethical and legal questions, and demand comprehensive legislative action.

The respiratory response to stimulation of juxta-pulmonary capillary receptors in the non-anesthetized cat.

To avoid the modifying influence of general anesthesia on vagal control of respiration, we investigated the effect of phenyldiguanide (PDG), a drug known to stimulate juxta-pulmonary capillary ("J") receptors, in the non-anesthetized, unrestrained cat and recorded EEG, eye movements, neck muscle EMG, EKG and respiratory movements. The response to bolus injection of PDG into the right atrium was qualitatively similar to the one seen in cats under anesthesia, consisting of bradycardia and apnea followed by rapid shallow breathing (RSB). The injection-response latencies ranged from 1.