Nicotine poisoning and rapid smoking.

Abstract

In an earlier article (Horan, Hackett, Nicholas, Linberg, Stone, & Lukaski, 1977), we reported a number of physiological changes that occur in subjects undergoing rapidsmoking treatment for cigarette addiction. Briefly, heart rates increased 35 beats per minute and blood pressures rose 15/10 mm Hg. Carboxyhemoglobin levels were estimated at l"/o-\Q% based on expired-air samples. Finally, cardiac arrhythmias occurred during rapid smoking with two of the six smokers and also with one ex-smoking pilot subject. Our data added fuel to a controversy concerning the safety of the rapid-smoking technique (cf. Dawley & Dillenkoffer, 1975; Hauser, 1974; Lichtenstein, 1974; Hynd, Severson, & O'Neal, Note 1). At that time we reserved judgment on the hazard potential of the rapid-smoking treatment pending a controlled investigation that would isolate the possible effects of subject age, normal smoking, and rapid breathing, as well as carbon monoxide, nicotine, and other combustible product levels. Our recent perusal of the literature on the toxic effects of nicotine, however, has produced a startling deja vu experience. Apart from slight tachycardia, low levels of nicotine (circa 2 mg) produce no serious electrocardiographic changes in normal or cardiac patients (Voile & Koelle, 196S; von Ahn, 1960). Higher doses, on the other hand, can be lethal. Some of the symptoms of acute nicotine poisoning that precede