Email
Third-Hand Smoke – Truth or Myth?
Everyone knows that smoking is harmful to health. Smokers know it. They’re also aware that they don’t only endanger themselves but also the people around them through second-hand smoke.
But have you ever heard of “third-hand smoke?”
In last month’s issue of the medical journal Pediatrics, doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston defined “third-hand smoke” as a phenomenon describing the tobacco smoke contamination that lingers on even after a cigarette is extinguished. The doctors are the authors of a new study that reports the health risks of third-hand smoke to babies and children.
The study was conducted in 1,500 households across the United States, focusing on the attitudes towards smoking. According to the study, majority of both smokers and non-smokers were aware that second-hand smoke is harmful to children, agreeing with the statement “inhaling smoke from a parent’s cigarette can harm the health of infants and children.”
However, few of those surveyed were aware of the risks of third-hand smoke. Since the term is so new, the researchers asked people if they agree that “breathing air in a room today where people smoked yesterday can harm the health of infants and children.” Only 65 percent of non-smokers and 43 percent of smokers said yes, which was interpreted as acknowledgement of the risks of third-hand smoke.
Third-hand smoke may come in the form of the invisible toxic gases and particles that cling to smokers’ hair and clothing, and in parts of the house like cushions and carpets that remain even after second-hand smoke has cleared the room.
According Dr. Jonathan Winickoff, the lead proponent of the study and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, third-hand smoke is what you smell when a smoker gets in an elevator after going outside for a cigarette or in a hotel room where people were smoking.
Your nose gets irritated because third-hand smoke is so toxic that you can almost hear your brain telling you to get as far away as possible.
By opening a window or turning on an electric fan, it’s easy for parents who smoke to get rid of second-hand smoke but third-hand smoke is a completely different story.
What’s in third-hand smoke that makes it so dangerous to babies and young children?
Some of the toxic chemicals from third-hand smoke include:
- hydrogen cyanide – used in chemical weapons
- butane – found in lighter fluid
- toluene – an ingredient in paint thinners
- arsenic
- lead
- carbon monoxide, and
- Polonium-210, the highly radioactive carcinogen used to assassinate former Russian spy Alexander V. Litvinenko in 2006
An earlier study published in 2004 reported that tobacco by-products were trapped in household dust, carpets, ceiling tiles, soft furnishings etc., increasing children’s exposure to toxic substances. These smoking by-products can remain for several months after smoking occurred.
Small children are at great risk because they are likely to breathe in close proximity and even lick and suck the areas and surfaces in the house where third-hand smoke has settled.
Pregnant women should be made aware of the possible risks associated with third-hand smoke because the chemicals in cigarettes have been known to have a negative impact on the health of the unborn child.
If you are a smoker, it is not enough that you don’t smoke in your child/children’s presence; you should not smoke at all while inside your house.
If you smoke in your car, then the risks of third-hand smoke are also present there.
Raising children in a smoke-free home is one of the best things a parent can do.
Third-hand smoke is another good reason why you should add “Quit Smoking” to your New Year’s resolution list or encourage family members or friends who smoke to do so.
|
|
Tags: smokers, smoking, third-hand smoke, tobacco contamination
