ABSTRACT
Tobacco, from Nicotiana tabacum and N. rustica, is probably the most widely-consumed pharmaceutically-active plant in the world and also the most harmful. The popularity of smoked tobacco has never been due to its modest and, as Gerard warned, transitory medicinal benefits but has always been due to the highly addictive nicotine content, a feature still exploited for profit on a massive scale by the tobacco industry. Nicotine has been used extensively in physiology laboratories to understand human and animal nervous systems. In 1967, Lichtneck and Lundgren, two doctors from the University of Lund, proposed the development of a nicotine-containing chewing gum. Nicotine replacement therapy is now widely used in smoking cessation practice and is available in many forms including electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices. Nicotine is produced by the plant for its own benefit as a deterrent to sap-sucking insects, and it is an effective insecticide.
