Cotinine is the principal metabolite of nicotine:
Cotinine spends quite awhile in the body; it can take several days to eliminate, so it's a marker for recent exposure to tobacco (secondhand smoke counts). This makes it one of the few drugs other than marijuana that will reliably show up on a drug test.
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Parents who smoke in front of their children expose them to the toxic chemicals found in passive cigarette smoke, but surely this is only seen in older kids, right?
Has it really been a whole year?
Half of us in the US now live in cities, towns or states that ban smoking in public places, including restaurants and bars (it's nice to be more enlightened than Europe in at least a few things):
Is it an active metabolite?
Given the eldritch solvent powers of N-methylpyrrolidinone, I'm thinking UNKNOWN HAZARDS! and a desperate opportunity for Homeland Severity/EPA/War on Drugs to SAVE OUR CHILDREN! by requiring weekly inventory and reportage of every drop of NMP in academic labs,
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/homesec.jpg
Whenever I see a left-handed metabolite I see a commie rat, er, Middle East terrorist. We have always been at war with EastAsia (in the east toward the west, as opposed to Far East Asia that is to the west if you go east enough. Agents of Goldstein!). What good is a police state without police?
How is this metabolite removed from the body? Through the liver or some other route?
Here's a nifty little metabolism pathway graphic, although I suspect it's out of date by now:
http://www.pharmgkb.org/do/serve?objId=PA2011&objCls=Pathway
Actually i have a 3 part question... a) what is the structural type for cotinine? b) how was cotinine discovered? and c) which industry uses cotinine?