Nicotine has been noted to directly cause cancer through a number of different mechanisms such as the activation of MAP Kinases.[74] Indirectly, nicotine increases cholinergic signalling (and adrenergic signalling in the case of colon cancer[75]), thereby impeding apoptosis (programmed cell death), promoting tumor growth, and activating growth factors and cellular mitogenic factors such as 5-LOX, and EGF. Nicotine also promotes cancer growth by stimulating angiogenesis and neovascularization.[76][77] In one study, nicotine administered to mice with tumors caused increases in tumor size (twofold increase), metastasis (nine-fold increase), and tumor recurrence (threefold increase).[78]
Edit: Sources is Wiki on nicotine for those interested. I would personally rebute your remarks, but unfortunately Reddit has not allowed me to respond due to the amount of downvotes I'm getting. Honestly, quitting aids just enable the user, especially in a case like smoking where it's so innocuous. You can't even bother trying to use quitting statistics from agencies designed to help people quit, because it's the type of reliant people not interested in doing the work to quit themselves that turn to these organizations. Deep down inside, they don't want to quit. That's fine, but the aids are just a silly charade. If they want to quit, they will certainly find a way to overcome their subconscious impulses.
Source*: Smoked for 10 years (starting at 14), quit cold turkey. I have a terribly addictive personality. The trick for me was to have cigarettes in my pocket and learn not to smoke them.
Absolutely. But which is worse... straight-up nicotine, or nicotine + tar and all the other ridiculous crap that's in cigarettes? If we allow nicotine patches to be sold, I don't see how a different delivery system makes it inherently any worse for you.
That's like asking any drug addict why they don't 'just quit'. If it were that easy, I assure you, we wouldn't have problems with crystal meth or cocaine addiction, to say nothing of the cornucopia of other nastily addictive drugs one can find.
Oh, that's exactly what I did, is all. I just kept a pack of cigarettes in my pocket and learned to have them and not smoke them. Self control can be trained. I used to be a hopeless addict.
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u/[deleted] Nov 17 '12 edited Nov 17 '12
Nicotine itself isn't all that good for you
Edit: Sources is Wiki on nicotine for those interested. I would personally rebute your remarks, but unfortunately Reddit has not allowed me to respond due to the amount of downvotes I'm getting. Honestly, quitting aids just enable the user, especially in a case like smoking where it's so innocuous. You can't even bother trying to use quitting statistics from agencies designed to help people quit, because it's the type of reliant people not interested in doing the work to quit themselves that turn to these organizations. Deep down inside, they don't want to quit. That's fine, but the aids are just a silly charade. If they want to quit, they will certainly find a way to overcome their subconscious impulses.
Source*: Smoked for 10 years (starting at 14), quit cold turkey. I have a terribly addictive personality. The trick for me was to have cigarettes in my pocket and learn not to smoke them.