The scent of cigarette smoke is stubborn, clinging to clothes, walls and hair. Now scientists are beginning to explore the health threats of “third-hand smoke,” or the residue left behind after the smoke clears.
In a study published Monday, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists showed how tobacco smoke lingering on surfaces chemically reacts with air, releasing potentially harmful substances.
Much has been made of the perils of secondhand smoke. The U.S. Surgeon General estimated in 2006 that it causes 50,000 deaths a year. But the idea of third-hand smoke is relatively new. The phrase was coined last year in the journal Pediatrics.
“Many people think that after the smoke is gone things are clean, but that is probably not the case,” said Hugo Destaillats, the study’s co- author.
Destaillats and his colleagues exposed cellulose, a material present in many household objects, to cigarette smoke and then nitrous acid, a molecule found in the air.
After several hours of exposure, they found the cellulose had 10 times the amount of tobacco-specific carcinogens than it did originally. The scientists also found high levels of a particle that is not present in freshly emitted tobacco smoke.
Destaillats said toxicologists will have to look into whether this new particle is harmful to humans.
Kent Pinkerton, an inhalation toxicologist at UC Davis Medical School, said it is, noting that cigarette smoke has 4,000 components, with toxic particles that end up on surfaces that can release them through simple touch.
Third-hand smoke is most harmful for children, he said.
“It’s not only because of what children breathe in, but because the smoke deposits itself,” he said. “Children are very oral and they put things in their mouths, so they would expose themselves to toxic particles by ingestion as well.”
California’s smoking rates are below the national average: 13.3 percent of adults smoke, compared to the national average of 21 percent.
California also has been at the forefront of secondhand smoke policies, outlawing, for example, smoking in a car with a child passenger. Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced $4.7 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for health and fitness initiatives, including expanding programs to decrease tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure.
Much needs to be done in other areas of tobacco control, said Paul Knepprath from the American Lung Association. He would like to see smoking banned in all apartment buildings, which could have third-hand smoke implications.
The Berkeley study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and was funded by the University of California Tobacco-Related Diseases Research Program.
In a study published Monday, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists showed how tobacco smoke lingering on surfaces chemically reacts with air, releasing potentially harmful substances.
Much has been made of the perils of secondhand smoke. The U.S. Surgeon General estimated in 2006 that it causes 50,000 deaths a year. But the idea of third-hand smoke is relatively new. The phrase was coined last year in the journal Pediatrics.
“Many people think that after the smoke is gone things are clean, but that is probably not the case,” said Hugo Destaillats, the study’s co- author.
Destaillats and his colleagues exposed cellulose, a material present in many household objects, to cigarette smoke and then nitrous acid, a molecule found in the air.
After several hours of exposure, they found the cellulose had 10 times the amount of tobacco-specific carcinogens than it did originally. The scientists also found high levels of a particle that is not present in freshly emitted tobacco smoke.
Destaillats said toxicologists will have to look into whether this new particle is harmful to humans.
Kent Pinkerton, an inhalation toxicologist at UC Davis Medical School, said it is, noting that cigarette smoke has 4,000 components, with toxic particles that end up on surfaces that can release them through simple touch.
Third-hand smoke is most harmful for children, he said.
“It’s not only because of what children breathe in, but because the smoke deposits itself,” he said. “Children are very oral and they put things in their mouths, so they would expose themselves to toxic particles by ingestion as well.”
California’s smoking rates are below the national average: 13.3 percent of adults smoke, compared to the national average of 21 percent.
California also has been at the forefront of secondhand smoke policies, outlawing, for example, smoking in a car with a child passenger. Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced $4.7 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for health and fitness initiatives, including expanding programs to decrease tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure.
Much needs to be done in other areas of tobacco control, said Paul Knepprath from the American Lung Association. He would like to see smoking banned in all apartment buildings, which could have third-hand smoke implications.
The Berkeley study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and was funded by the University of California Tobacco-Related Diseases Research Program.
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