Cotinine levels and
green tobacco sickness among shadetobacco workers.
California university medical professor Neal Benowitz explained nicotine poisoning, also called
Green Tobacco Sickness, was more severe in youngsters due to their underdeveloped tolerance level against smoking as compared to adults.
Unintentional poisoning by nicotine has been reported, usually among children who eat cigarettes (5), in suicide attempts (6), or among tobacco workers who experience "
green tobacco sickness" (7).
A study in the March 2000 issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine finds that commercialization and consolidation of tobacco farms may be causing a rise in
green tobacco sickness, a form of acute nicotine poisoning that occurs after brushing against wet tobacco leaves.
Case of
green tobacco sickness: occupational nicotine poisoning in tobacco harvesters in Korea.