ROFL!
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.
For some reason, that headline puts me in mind of Michael Myers in a fat suit, funky red muttonchop sideburns, a glengarry cap and tartan shorts, bellowing...
"Get! In! Mah! Belly!"
I have NO idea what you're talking about. A shoe or "bowling"
commercial?
But what kind of health did he live in? My Mom made it to 80...but she was dogged with so many ailments and ended up dying of pneumonia related to her smoking. In fact one doctor refused to treat her because she wouldn't stop smoking. DId she live long....yes. Was her quality of life good? Not really. Hey, I'm not trying to start an argument here. Genes have so much to do with thing..but there is NO doubt that smoking is not good for you. Do I think it should be outlawed...HELL NO...We all have the right to ruin our bodies if we choose.
My husband has been trying to kill me that way for years. I just spray Lysol at him. We'll see who goes first.
Rumor has it that my dad was smoking when I was CONCEIVED. Top that! I probably have Marlboro in my DNA.
ROTFLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh good grief. I'm all for not smoking around children, but these paranoid schizoids are taking this issue beyond the realm of commonsense.
But all babies from the 1920's through the 1970's will die. So obviously the argument must have merit. ( please disengage sarcasm mode).
The most surprising thing about our body burden is that we are at risk even before we are born. A study conducted in 2005 by the Environmental Working Group in cooperation with the American Red Cross examined the umbilical cord blood of newborns. They found that the average newborn has 200 different industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides in their blood. These included over 70 known carcinogens (toxins that may cause cancer). Other studies have found high levels of the metals cadmium and mercury in the breast milk of nursing mothers.
We're all doomed.
I'm sorry to hear that, Hildy. However, I hope you don't blame your mother for that. Our dear friend, who never smoked a day in his life, and didn't grow up in a home where there were any smokers and didn't live his adult life around smokers (he was a principal of a school) also died of lung cancer at the young age of 40.
Cancer has so many causes these days, and some are simply unexplainable.
BUMP
beavers mom. Buying from a smoke free home can make a difference in certain purchases. I buy a lot of art from Ebay. Trust me when I buy a piece that has been in a smoker's home I can smell the smoke and see the damage to the canvas caused by it. Fortunately I know an excellent restorer who takes care of that.
However, with pottery the only thing I notice is sometimes the packing will be very smokey. I have never had trouble with pieces themselves. Besides it is a heck of a lot easier to wash out pottery or even porcelain then to clean a painting.
Last year I got stuck with the job of cleaning out and selling the house of a deceased relative who was a heavy smoker. I brought home a bunch of unopened stuff from her pantry - fig newtons, pudding mix, boxes of rice, etc. When I opened the stuff up later, it all reeked of smoke. I ended up tossing everything. Weird, but true.
I know...there was so much Cancer in my family. My father has prostate, bladder and Colon cancer, which is what he offfically died of. My mother had breast cancer, had a double mastectomy. Besides my brother who died of lung cancer at the age of 42, my other brother had skin cancer. He's ok, though. As for me, I don't wonder if...I wonder when.
Aren't they just? LOL
ROTFLOL
The average lifespan for men and women today has climbed so high that people are living so old that too much social security and other forms of retirement are being paid out.
Yet, we are told that nearly everything in our environment (including our environment) is killing us at alarming rates. All these folks who are living to be too old lived thru all those years without suffiicent environmental regulations.
Mmmmm... Bar-room fresh!
Well it's no wonder you'd be concerned. I'm sorry for your losses and hope your mother is doing well. As for you, my dear, you just keep the faith and a positive attitude. You could very well be the one that breaks the chain, ya know. :)
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