Cancer risk from 'third-hand smoke'

Chemistry World ^ | 08 February 2010 | Lewis Brindley

[neverdem]

Nicotine residues on indoor surfaces can react with ambient gases to generate cancer-causing compounds, researchers in the US have found. The research is hoped to shed new light on the possible danger of 'third-hand smoke' - where toxins from tobacco fumes can linger on household surfaces. 

'Certain compounds - such as ambient nitrous acid, nitrogen dioxide or ozone - are present in higher quantities indoors rather than outdoors,' explains Hugo Destaillats, who led the research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, US. This is because they are generated by combustion from indoor gas supplies, fireplaces or the use of electronic equipment. 

Destaillats and his team used cellulose as a model indoor material, and placed a block of it inside a truck belonging to a smoker for three days. They then analysed the block and compared the results with lab-based tests based on cellulose exposed to vaporised nicotine in a tubular-flow reactor. 'We found that ambient gases [in the truck] reacted with residual nicotine to generate tobacco-specific nitrosamines that are known to be carcinogenic.'

More health risks from smoking

Two of the compounds - N-nitroso nornicotine (NNN) and 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridil)-1-butanone (NNK) are also found in tobacco smoke, so have been well-studied in the past. But a third compound was identified that is not usually present in tobacco smoke: 1-(N-methyl-N-nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridinyl)-4-butanal), termed NNA. Since it is absent from smoke, NNA has not been investigated in detail, but the team is hopeful that toxicologists will now undertake studies. 

Unlike second-hand smoke, inhaled unintentionally in public places, the hazards of third-hand smoke are not so clear-cut. Many factors are involved, from size and ventilation of the indoor environment to the different materials used - microlayers of toxins can accumulate in upholstery, wallpaper, clothing and hair. 

'One group that is particularly at risk from this type of smoke are children,' says Jonathan Winickoff, an assistant professor of paediatrics who has studied the danger of third-hand smoke at Harvard Medical School. 'Children interact with their environment in a very different way, so their exposure could be twenty times higher than adults.'

'I think this is important work that will set the stage for many further studies on residual tobacco smoke contamination,' Winickoff adds. 'The implication of third-hand smoke is that there is no way for a person to smoke indoors without contaminating that environment.'

 

References

M Sleiman et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 2010, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0912820107

Also of interest

Smoking cessation drug shows promise for alcohol dependency

09 July 2007

A drug that helps people stop smoking could also be used to treat alcohol addiction

There's more to quitting than nicotine

As England joins the growing list of nations to ban smoking in enclosed public places, Lisa Melton explores the medicinal arsenal that could help to kick the habit

[mo]

Great...so every chemical reaction in the world will get its own Federal agency, regulatory law and research grants...only to keep the knowledge and utility from the peasants?!!!! /s

[Condor51]

This article..

[harleyrider1978]

n-nitrosomines is inorganic arsenic,they dont tell you this and a quick run to the cdc website tells us all we need to know. Children are likely to eat small amounts of dust or soil each day, so this is another way they may be exposed to arsenic. The total amount of arsenic you take in from these sources is generally about 50 micrograms (1 microgram equals one-millionth of a gram) each day. The level of inorganic arsenic (the form of most concern) you take in from these sources is generally about 3.5 microgram/day. Children may be exposed to small amounts of arsenic from hand-to-mouth activities from playing on play structures or decks constructed out of CCA-treated wood. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp2-c1.p... The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a permissible exposure limit (PEL) of 10 micrograms of arsenic per cubic meter of workplace air (10 μg/m³) for 8 hour shifts and 40 hour work weeks. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts2.pdf 10ugs is equal to 186,000 cigs per hour in a sealed room 20x9x9. note 3.5 micrograms is equal to roughly 60,000 cigs per hour in our small sealed room....Imagine that those rugrats eat up all that n-nitrosomines/inorganic arsenic in a single day..... But why didnt they put it to us like this so we could understand in easier terms! Your body turns the nitrosomines into inorganic arsenic in your body,then you pee it away within days........whether by eating foods or by inhaling it,its a constant.The air outside contains upwards of 2000nanograms per cubic meter of air but its usually at 29 nanograms per meter of air.........these fools dont even say they had figured for the naturally occuring inorganic arsenic in the air they were testing

[libertarian27]

This article gives me cause for concern. I think I may rent an Ozone generator and try that.

Read all the science on Ozone Generators and that will freak you out too...you know, if you are easily freaked out....Then, if you replace carpets, you can read the 'science' on carpet out gassing and get more freaked out, then buy new furniture and get freaked out on fabric material.Don't even think about buying a bbq grill or enclosed fire pit...that 'science' will wig you out for sure.....

You'll have a Freak-Fest!

[namvolunteer]

The only good that came from the tobacco settlement was that lead attorney Peter Angelos used his take to buy and screw up the Baltimore Orioles for more than a decade.
Go Red Sox, smoke the Orioles!

[Jaidyn]

Read all the science on Ozone Generators and that will freak you out too...you know, if you are easily freaked out....Then, if you replace carpets, you can read the 'science' on carpet out gassing and get more freaked out, then buy new furniture and get freaked out on fabric material.Don't even think about buying a bbq grill or enclosed fire pit...that 'science' will wig you out for sure..... You'll have a Freak-Fest!

Loved your post! Paranoia is sweeping the nation!

[demsux]

Maybe you should have bought a non-smoker’s house...see how easy that is.

[Old Professer]

Studies such as this one will be used to link the ideopathic cases to the original smokers who left these deposits; soon, all smokers or ex-smokers will be seen as serial ‘poisoners.’

With diligence and thorough research, they may eventually trace every case of cancer to the first leaf of tobacco ever burned.

[GOPJ]

How come liberal “scientists” never write about the dangers of illegal drugs?

[TASMANIANRED]

Right up there with global warming.

[Paradox]

Maybe you should have bought a non-smoker’s house...see how easy that is.

Price was too good, besides, a bit of cleaning did wonders. Like I said, I'll try an Ozone generator if necessary. I'm not losing any sleep over it.

[Junior_G]

You don’t even want to know what 4th hand smoke is.

I believe that's when you can smell your Grandma's sweater even before she walks in the room.

[Tunehead54]

4 am bump ;-)

[TornadoAlley3]

*

[1_Rain_Drop]

I hope you don't have a furnace or cellar. Carbon monoxide is deadly. Fire places are deadly too. Soot everywhere. Your neighbors inhale the smoke when the wind is just right. Cars and trucks on the road leave fume deposits on your flowers (which are sniffed) and vegetables (which are eaten). Snow is hazardous too. Salt used to melt it on the roads turns to dust which can be inhaled when breathing. Cooking fish is hazardous also. How long does that smell linger in the house? LOL

Stop worrying about the invisible. Enjoy life! be happy and no cancer will attach itself to you.