CINCINNATTI, Oh – We all know the facts that smoking kills. In fact, cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States causing 480,000 deaths each year.
That adds up to 13,000 deaths each and every day,
And even if you don’t smoke, secondhand smoke can cause harm to you if you live with a smoker. Now, there’s new evidence that thirdhand smoke can be just as harmful.
Smoking around a child, or even smoking when a child is not around, could be harming their health.
“So, whereas secondhand smoke is inhaling smoke from a lit tobacco product, thirdhand smoke is inhaling, ingesting, or dermally absorbing the secondhand smoke pollutants,” said Ashley Merianos, a tobacco researcher at the University of Cincinnati.
Thirdhand smoke can be found on furniture, décor, walls, and floors and it can cause cancer and respiratory problems.
“So, thirdhand smoke pollutants can include well-known nicotine as well as, cancer-causing chemicals such as tobacco-specific nitrosamines. And so, in our study, we looked at one called NNK, which is the most potent known human carcinogen found in tobacco smoke,” Merianos said.
Merianos found that 50% of children living in homes with a smoker had NNK on their home surfaces and 70% had NNK in dust throughout their homes.
“We also found that 100% of children had nicotine detected on their surfaces and about 100% had nicotine detected in dust,” Merianos said.
These toxins were even found in homes with smoking bans and when people were not allowed to smoke around the children.
“We have found that thirdhand smoke can last in environments for years,” Merianos said.
Meaning your child could be exposed and you wouldn’t even know it.
The study also found children living in lower-income households had higher levels of NNK and nicotine found on home surfaces. Merianos wants parents and grandparents to be aware that not smoking inside the house is not enough and doesn’t fully protect children from the dangers of the toxic chemicals found in cigarettes.