All About Nicotine Test Kits That Use Urine Specimen

Nicotine, an addictive substance, is found primarily in tobacco. When tobacco is used in the form of cigarette, cigar, etc., nicotine enters the body. Many people get addicted to this substance because of its mild sedative effects. To test for nicotine abuse, one has to undergo a test for nicotine. For this, test kits specially meant to test nicotine are available. Of these, test kits that use a urine specimen are popular.

Smoking tobacco - one of the primary causes for pre-mature death
Smoking of tobacco harms all vital organs in the body. Studies show that smokers have low longevity compared to non-smokers. When a person smokes tobacco, about 400 diverse chemicals are released into the body. Of them, substances like nicotine, benzene, carbon monoxide and other chemicals have disastrous effects on the body. Chemicals like benzene are carcinogenic and cause cancer of the heart, the lungs and other vital organs.

Nicotine present in tobacco is not only an addictive substance, but is also a highly harmful substance. Nicotine brings drastic changes in the blood circulatory system of the smoker. Nicotine in tobacco affects the normal functioning of the organs in the body and they lose their vitality soon. It reduces the blood carrying capacity of blood vessels. In other words, nicotine makes blood vessels narrow. All this, plunges the person to premature death.

Nicotine test - a reliable method to detect smoking habit
Being aware of the harmful effects of tobacco, it is essential to find ways to detect tobacco abuse. Nicotine test is the most reliable and foolproof method to detect smoking habit. This test can be conducted using nicotine test kits with the help of any of the three specimens - urine, saliva and blood. In all three methods, nicotine is detected by the presence of its metabolite, cotinine. This is because unlike nicotine, cotinine, stays longer - as long as three weeks in the body.

Urine test kits are found to be more effective in detecting nicotine abuse. Unlike other test kits taking saliva or blood as test specimen, these kits are more effective as cotinine is more easily detectable in urine than in blood or saliva.

Administering and interpreting the results of a nicotine test
With the advent of nicotine test kits, administering test for nicotine has turned out to be quite easy. So also is the interpretation of the results. These kits are economical, reliable, fast and accurate. The kits work on the principle of detecting cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine found in the smoker's urine.

•Administering the test: Nicotine test kits use a small amount of suspect's urine as specimen. The administration of these tests is quite simple. Urine test kits come in the form of cups or strips - both of them can be used easily to conduct the test. These kits avoid the need to consult a professional in this regard.

•Interpretation of results: These urine nicotine test kits display the result by determining the amount of cotinine. A concentration of 200ng/ml to 500ng/ml of cotinine in the suspect's urine sample indicates the active use of a tobacco product. The results displayed by these kits are also easy to read.

The kits can be used any time at homes, educational institutions, professional organizations, insurance companies, law enforcing agencies and the like. The nicotine test kits using a urine specimen are thus helpful in detecting use of tobacco, for they are reliable, simple and can be used anywhere at any point of time.

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