A New Cigarette Hazard; "THIRD Hand Smoke!"
It contains hydrogen cyanide, used in chemical weapons; butane, which is used in lighter fluid; toluene, found in paint thinners; arsenic; lead; carbon monoxide; and even polonium-210, a highly radioactive carcinogen. What is it that children are exposed to that contains all these? It's what is being referred to as "third hand smoke". Everyone has heard of second hand smoke, but third hand smoke is something just as bad. It's the residue left on a smoker's clothes, furniture, or car's interior. Airing out a room, turning on a fan, cracking a window in the car, etc., does not remove it. It's what you smell in a smokers car, or an elevator after a smoker leaves. As one Dr. involved in the study by the Mass General Hospital for Children in Boston said "Your nose isn't lying, the stuff is so toxic your brain is telling you to get away." The study found the vast majority of both smokers and nonsmokers were aware that second-hand smoke is harmful to children. Some 95 percent of nonsmokers and 84 percent of smokers agreed with the statement that "inhaling smoke from a parent's cigarette can harm the health of infants and children." But far fewer of those surveyed were aware of the risks of THIRD-hand smoke.
This study is taking on new meaning in my state of South Dakota as the legislature comes into session. They will again take up the possibility of banning smoking in all public places. Many other states including most of the bordering states have already put this ban in place, and my hope is it will finally happen here this year also. Recent polls say 80% consider second hand smoke a health hazard, and 65% would favor a smoking ban on all indoor work places. The arguments against it are weak.
Some bar and restaurant owners fear a loss of business, but if all are put under the same law, I can't see how it would make a difference.
Some say they have a right to smoke. That is true, but I don't have to smoke it with you! If you want to smoke do it at home or outside alone.
They say let the restaurant owners decide. But restaurants are places of public accommodation, licensed to serve everyone, and must meet minimum health standards. Also, restaurants are workplaces and employees there deserve the same protections as employees in other workplaces.
Some will say I want to smoke just as much as you want to have to air without smoke. Why should your wishes prevail? Smoking is optional. Breathing isn't.
With any luck and with the new evidence of the harmful effects of smoking before them, South Dakota legislators will finally do the right thing this year and put the smoking ban in place.
For more info on the effects of third hand smoke read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/health/research/03smoke.html?_r=2&em
C):-)
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Comments: 8
When I was a child, many people smoked. My parents had card parties and the smell of cigarette smoke was pleasant to me, along with the laughter of the adults. The dangers were mostly unknown back then. The smell doesn't bother me, unless it's really heavy or from cigars, because it triggers a happy memory for me.
The girl from Emphysema goes walking,
And when she passes, each one she passes
Goes (wheezing, coughing).
She should stop smoking, that's her solution
But she contributes to air pollution,
And when she passes, through noxious gasses
It's (Wheezing, coughing).
Oh, how she's coughing and sneezing;
Oh, how she's hacking and wheezing;
So, she's not really so pleasing.
Once there were nights when they kissed,
Now she lives in a primatine mist.
Tall and pale and weak and sickly,
Those girls with emphysema go quickly,
And when she passes
You'll see her lips turning blue,
Let the girl with emphysema
Be a lesson
To you.'
That is a good a pretty good point. I see this discussion a lot- whose right is more important. Smokers say, "if you don't like it don't go where it is." Non-smokers say that they have a right to be anywhere public...and have a right to enjoy it. But you are correct- breathing isn't optional and that smoke smell sticks around for a long time.