Posted on 08/07/2006 9:30:09 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
As any parent knows, crawling babies explore the world by touching - and tasting - anything they can get their wet little hands on.
If their parents use tobacco, that curiosity may expose babies to what some doctors are calling "thirdhand" smoke - particles and gases given off by cigarettes that cling to walls, clothes and even hair and skin. Up to 90% of the nicotine in cigarette smoke sticks to nearby surfaces, says Georg Matt, a professor at San Diego State University.
Preliminary research by Matt and others suggests the same chemicals that leave a stale cigarette odor on clothes and upholstery also can be swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin of non-smokers. Smoke residue may linger for hours, days or months, depending on the ventilation and the level of contamination. In some cases, contaminants may need to be removed by rigorously cleaning or replacing wallpaper, rugs and drapes, Matt says.
Matt cautions that his research needs to be confirmed by other studies. But his work suggests that babies may take in nicotine and other chemicals just by hugging their mothers - even if their mothers never light up next to them.
About 43% of children ages 2 months to 11 years live with a smoker, according to research described in Matt's 2004 study in the journal Tobacco Control.
In his small study of 49 infants under 13 months old, Matt found nicotine in the air and dust throughout smokers' homes, even when parents smoked only outside. Tests also found a nicotine byproduct, cotinine, in babies' urine and inside shafts of their hair.
As expected, babies whose parents smoked around them had the highest cotinine levels - nearly 50 times higher than the babies of non-smokers, according to the study.
Smokers who tried to shield their infants had only partial success, Matt says. The babies of parents who smoked only outside had cotinine levels seven times higher than in the infants of non-smokers, the study showed.
Adults also may be exposed to significant smoke residue if they rent cars, hotel rooms or apartments that have soaked up years of smoke, Matt says. He worries more about youngsters, however, because they may be exposed day and night for years.
Children also may be at greater risk because they breathe faster than adults and inhale more chemicals, says Jonathan Winickoff, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Crawling babies may take in chemicals through their skin.
Though scientists have extensive evidence about the damage caused by secondhand smoke, they know relatively little about the potential risks of thirdhand exposure, says Brett Singer, a scientist at California's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. "The million-dollar question is: How dangerous is this?" Singer says. "We can't say for sure this is a health hazard."
Matt agrees that doctors should study children - ideally for 10 or 15 years or more - to see whether low levels of smoke residue worsen asthma or harm the development of a child's lungs.
Oh good grief, with a personal page like that, who would believe anything "she" posts?
"Well, the cancer rate is up to about 50% these days."
Up 50%? From when to when?
Could an increase be due to better detection methods now?
Could it be due to people living longer??
Could it be due to the smoking-nazi's pressure plus the almighty grant-dollar encouraging more deaths to be listed as smoking-related or as cancer???
Naaa you're not alone ... after that one try and almost killing myself with all the smoke .. I never tried it again
Heck .. I have yet to hear other moms brag about their self cleaning ovens .. except when the first buy them
After that ... it's always stories about having to scrub the oven clean
That's how I see it as well. As well as poor dietary habits. Eat a well balanced diet, and you will probably live well. A healthy body is more resistant to diseases than a unhealthy one.
LMAOUOTF
Do it! The only evil chemical is tobacco. They can't say diddly.
I've tried, a couple of times to use the damned self clean and hated it more, with each try; not to mention the fact that my housekeeper couldn't figure out how to do it and broke the damned handle, which I had to get fixed. :-(
And the self clean never really cleaned it all that well. So now, it's EASYOFF for me. :-)
I agree. The anti smoking nazi's don't consider these other factors. If an autobody man died of lung cancer, and he was a smoker, they would say he died from smoking, not from all the polypropynols and other toxins from automotive materials he inhaled for 20 years. The same goes for just about any other industrial job.
For real! The only thing that ever happened to me growing was 3 or 4 colds or cases of bronchitis per year!Indeed, there were several weeks per year I was perfectly healthy (as long as I didn't over-do it...sound advice for everyone!)
And my dad ended up living to the ripe old age of 67, and my step-mom made it all the way to her mid 50s before dying of cancer!
Makes you wonder about the residues from pesticides, those wonderful little air freshener thingies, and all ambient pollutants that don't come from a cigarette.
Oh, I forgot, this is either to bag a sh!tload of money in the grant machine derby, or it is to further exclude the eeeevil smoker from society by making sure they have to gut their house before they can sell it.
Maybe its a two-fer.
Yep, there'll probably be a law.
But the realtor still can't tell you if the former owner or occupant died of AIDS. Wonder why that is?
Your childhood three or four colds lasted for 11 months, or so? The same for your bouts of bronchitis? Really?
BTW, smoke doesn't cause a cold and neither does it cause bronchitis.
I guess it doesn't matter, all those eevil, unfiltered farticles settle out and lay there in wait...
Most stuff that comes from homes of smokers is pretty much okay, but I've seen some smokers' homes where everything gets a layer of nasty grime. Basically, the "smoke free home" promises that things won't be like that.
It had nothing to do with eating a bucket of KFC 3 times a week, and 5 bottles of qhiskey. it had to be the cigarettes, huh? My Great granny was 103, smoker, Great Grandad died early, 67, but the concentration camp in Poland probably shorted his life, my grandfathers lived to 97 and 83(diabetic), smokers, and grandmothers 87 and 95. They were smokers. They were also farmers, and cooked great Ukrainian and Polish food. They never smoked filtered cigarettes either, always twisted their own.
Weren't all our ancestors breathing smoke every day from fires? I wonder how our species made it this far without Liberal Nannies to protect us?
After that ... it's always stories about having to scrub the oven clean
That's why they're called "self-cleaning ovens", because you clean them yourself.
Probably because you hadn't built up an immune system at that age, and when you rely heavily on medications all your life, your immune system never gets built up because your body doesn't depend on it.
What if the bubble bursts and the immune system has never been challenged?
Twas nice knowing you. Goodbye. (not you NZ, the person in the bubble)
Beats me. I Also wonder why the earth didn't burn up from global warming caused by all those fires, not to mention uncontrolled forrest fires, smoke stacks billowing out black coal soot, and uncorked volcanos.
Thank God we have liberals and their "scientists" now.
I have just arrived home from the tavern and the saturation of smoke on my skin and in my hair is quite noticable. I, like every extended evening at the bar, expect my sinuses to be dry and my sense of tasted dulled for the next 24 hours.
I don't think government should dictate to private business about use of a legal product but there is no question in my mind that cigs are disgusting.
That's the way things are heading, especially with these stupid liberal whiners refusing to get their children innoculated.
Oh well, less liberals in the future for our dirty Republican children to deal with. :o)
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