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Firsthand smoke. You know what that is. Secondhand smoke? Got it. But thirdhand smoke?
You may not have heard the term until now--and it hardly existed until very recently--but so-called thirdhand smoke has made headlines this week, thanks to a new study that sheds light on a whole new set of dangers related to cigarette smoking. Thirdhand smoke refers to toxins that stick around on smokers' bodies--in their hair and on their clothes--even after the cigarette is extinguished. These toxins can also collect on furniture, floors and any other nearby surfaces--which means that the littlest members of the household come in direct contact with them.
Yikes. And... yuck.
Not like you needed reminding, but the researchers name a whole list of dangerous chemicals found in cigarette smoke, including things that you wouldn't feel safe putting in your car engine, never mind your (or your baby's) body. They include butane, ammonia, toluene (a chemical found in paint thinners), arsenic and lead. In short, cigarette smoke is toxic--no matter which hand you're talking about.
Learn more from MassGeneral Hospital for Children, whose researchers conducted the study. It appears in the January issue of Pediatrics.
Laura Motta
Producer, Momtourage
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wow thanks for the info! I had no idea how dangerous it was just to have the smell of smoke on you. I will definitely tell ppl about this.
This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Coffee has some of the same poisons in it. The smog we breathe is like smoking a pack of cigarettes. Not secondhand smoke, but smoking a cigarette. What does that do to our kids? Water in some parts has arsenic in it. Are we freakin' out about that? The question is if it is in amounts large enough to hurt us. In order for secondhand smoke to kill anybody, the circumstances would have to be in a 5 x 5 foot room with no ventilation and 3,000 - 20,000 cigs smoked. There are studies to prove this. They are just buried in the bureaucracy of what we call government in bed with Big Pharma! Before you condemn me as uneducated, try doing you're own research instead of believing anything that organizations with ulterior motives tell you.
I think it's a pretty farfetched theory. Not that some of it doesn't ring true, I mean, sure cigarette smoke is poisonous and of course second hand smoke would be, and my children are not exposed to either. But third hand smoke hazards? Really? The only thing that I could see third hand smoke causing would be reactions for those people with allergies to cigarette smoke. There are toxins everywhere we go, on everything we touch and in everything we breathe. So, what about the residual paint fumes from redecorating our babies rooms five years ago? Or what about the deisel truck that drove past my front yard where my kids were playing three days ago? Really people, when you look for something hard enough, you will find it.