Answers
I'm 23 and I have just applied for my own health insurance with health mate coast to coast. I smoked for probably 4 years, but I quit close to 5 weeks ago. How do they conduct those tests...urine or blood test? I know they check for cotinine levels to see if you are a smoker and then will charge you a lot more for health insurance. But unfortunately I had a couple cigarettes 2 weeks ago, and haven't had any since. My test is in 2 weeks. Has anyone ever quit early enough to pass the test?
Nicotine stays in your system for 12 months. The blood test is what will catch you. You want to list yourself as a smoker on the insurance until you have been 100% nicotine free for 12 solid months. The reason for that is that if you list yourself as a non smoker, and then any lung problem results in a claim, the insurance company will be able to deny the claim, even if it's not proven that smoking was the cause of the problem. For instance, if you get bronchitis, and go to the doctor, the insurance company will deny the claim based on the belief that smoking contributed to the seriousness of the bronchitis. So just do things by the book, and pay the extra premium for smoking for 1 year. After that, you can change your status. Good luck with the quitting!
laws appear to protect children from secondhand smoke. Researchers studied cotinine levels in nearly 12000 non smoking children, finding that ...
eScholarship: DIFFERENTIAL SENSITIVITY OF MALE GERM CELLS TO ...
Title:DIFFERENTIAL SENSITIVITY OF MALE GERM CELLS TO MAINSTREAM AND SIDESTREAM TOBACCO SMOKE IN THE MOUSE
Author:Polyzos, Aris
Publication Date:07-27-2009
Publication Info:Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Permalink:http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6f77r1mj
Citation:Polyzos, Aris. (2009). DIFFERENTIAL SENSITIVITY OF MALE GERM CELLS TO MAINSTREAM AND SIDESTREAM TOBACCO SMOKE IN THE MOUSE . Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6f77r1mj
News
Secondhand smoke damages arteries in teens: studyReuters - Mar 02, 2010
Indian ExpressThey measured levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine that is found in the blood after someone breathes in tobacco smoke. They divided the children into Study shows teens exposed to secondhand smoke have thicker arteries- Cotinine Even low-level smoke exposure increases atherosclerosis and lipid changes in Secondhand smoke harms teens#39; arteriesnbsp;-all 85 news articlesnbsp;raquo;
Medscape - Feb 17, 2010
February 17, 2010 — Pipe and cigar smoking has been found to increase urine cotinine levels and is associated with decreased lung function and increased Cigars, pipes no better than cigarettesall 94 news articlesnbsp;raquo;JoinTogether.org - Feb 19, 2010
Pipe and cigar smokers also had increased levels of cotinine, a marker for nicotine exposure, in their blood. quot;Some pipe and cigar smokers say they do not and morenbsp;raquo;Voice of America - Mar 05, 2010
In their study, the Finnish researchers tested blood for a chemical [cotinine], which is produced when nicotine is metabolized, so they got an objective and morenbsp;raquo;Medical News Today - Mar 05, 2010
Carbon monoxide - just twelve hours after your last cigarette your blood carbon monoxide levels go back to normal. Lung function - within three months of and morenbsp;raquo;Healthcanal.com - Feb 26, 2010
Pipe amp; Cigar Smokers Show Early Signs of Lung Disease, Disputing Myth that These pipe and cigar smokers were also found to have higher levels of the nicotine byproduct cotinine (the part of tobacco smoke that is absorbed by the and morenbsp;raquo;