Nicotine addictive but 'not all that harmful'
The Royal Society for Public Health in the UK has likened nicotine to caffeine, saying it is addictive but not really harmful. The society said yesterday that it was concerned that 90% of Britons thought nicotine was harmful.It said this misconception was derived from cigarettes being known to be injurious to health."Nicotine is harmful in cigarettes largely because it is combined with damaging chemicals such as tars and arsenic," it said.It said people became hooked on cigarettes because of nicotine addiction.The society, which wants to reduce the number of smokers, encourages switching to e-cigarettes - which deliver nicotine without burning tobacco - but says they should be renamed "vaporisers, to distance them from ciga-rettes".But critics say nicotine can raise blood pressure and the heart rate.National Council Against Smoking president Yusuf Saloojee said the fact that pregnant women are advised not to use nicotine replacement patches shows that nicotine is harmful...
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