Tobacco Documents Online

• RE: STUDY ON TRAC NICOTINE LEVELS IN FETAL HAIR have not had an opportunity to review this study. We assume tnat :ts central claim is that detectable levels cf ni cotine irn fetal hair demonstrate infant exposure to tobacco smoice, either through the mother's active smoking or rhrough a non-smoking mother's exposure to ETS. :`:ese ..n,:s _ f studies ::ave appeared before in the _c:.entitic :'terature and their common contention, -:a:r.eLy, ~~at ~z-ace levels of nicotine in fetal hair can be used as a;r,arker for tobacco smoke exposures, is •peculative. The use cf n.1cotine in human hair is not widei,; accepted by scientists as a suitable marker for tobacco smoke exposures, ~. Canadian study on fetal hair levels of nicotine, published in 1993, reported nicotine levels of 6 nanograms per milligram of hair -- where a nanogram is one billionth of a gram, and a gram is about four hundredths of an ounce -- in the hair of infants born to smoking rothers, and 0.6 nanogram of nicotine in the hair of infants born to non-smoking mothers. The authors ~ ~ ~ reported nQ significant differences in amounts of g~ ~icotine in the hair of infants born to non-smoking fi~ ~ C~J ~ ~ ~'""i NnibA i hmA XnngS Wy/p:i 1 ~I 'il 'Qaq

• • :~others who were exposed to ETS and infants born to non-snoking :^others who were not exposed to ETS. ::;at result is not surprising because common foods such as potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and other fruits and •.egetables natural'_y contain small amounts of nicotine. "hey 3re all -elated to the tobacco plant family. ':ons^o.Kers •.no are r.ot exposed to ambient nicotine from -TS ::evertheless have detectable levels of nicotine ... tcay r' u.i:s due to dietary ingestion of those common _`oods. ::nless dietary factors are considered, it s i:-pcssib:.e to determine whether nicotine detected in ooay fl,.:ids (or fetal :air) results from ambient exposure to nicotine in ETS or from the ingestion of common foods ~n the mother's) diet. ?urtherr^ore, nicotine levels from ETS in the ambient air cannot be correlated with nicotine levels in body fluids due to differences in individual rates of metabolism and removal of the -substance. So when a study measures a given amount of nicotine in fetal hair or body fluids, one cannot estimate from that number the precise amount . ~~ of exposure to nicotine, whether its source is exposure `~ ~ to tobacco smoke or the diet. ~ GYJ 985 2 G~J CFt '~90 "^Y "IOO~S ~ IQ~~H }IOOHS ~1GS~Ii ~66i 'ZZ'qa~