Cotinine

The health hazards associated with smoking (and passive smoking) have led to widespread smoking cessation efforts in the workplace and other public settings. Detecting the prescence of cotinine (the primary metabolite of nicotine) can allow the specific assessment of smoking status. Nicotine can be ingested through a variety of vehicles
including smoke inhalation or chewing tobacco. Nicotine and it’s metabolites i.e. cotinine can be detected in oral fluid following nicotine administration. Nicotine has a relatively short half-life approximately 2 hours while cotinine has a half life of approximately 17 hours in saliva and has been shown to be a sensitive and specific marker for determination of smoking status. The microplate EIA will allow simple and accurate differentiation between smokers and non-smokers.
For this purpose this test are widely used by the insurance industry.

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