LAUSR

Nicotine is responsible for the highly addictive nature of tobacco products, but most tobacco-caused disease is not directly caused by nicotine, but rather by other chemicals present in tobacco or tobacco smoke. The strongest evidence for direct causality for nicotine is for birth defects (neurodevelopment), with only limited evidence supporting causal links to cancer and cardiovascular disease, and scarce data for COPD. Despite this, manymisperceive nicotine as responsible for smoking-related health risks, like cancer. 3 These misperceptions are not unique to the general population; in one study, 60% of nurses incorrectly perceived nicotine as carcinogenic. This study explores physician perceptions of nicotine risk in a national survey.