Risks still remain after smoke has cleared
The door is flung open, the fan is turned on and the windows are wide enough to let a slight breeze blow through, all in order to get rid of the smoke that lingers after a cigarette has been lit in the room.
Although these actions might help in reducing second-hand smoke, they won’t be able to completely prevent the newly discovered danger of cigarettes: third-hand smoke.
A study in the January issue of the medical journal Pediatrics reported that even after all the visible smoke has disappeared, the dangers of third-hand smoke remain with both the smoker and the room that he was in.
The study showed that with third-hand smoke, gas particles cling to the smoker and then are transferred on to the other people that either come into contact with him, or even go near him.
The smoke can also stick on furniture, walls or the floor in the room where the cigarette was smoked, causing others to smell unpleasant odors even long after the smoker has left.
Although most third-hand smoke tests have been for children because adults don’t crawl on the floor or put their hands in their mouths, according to Stanton Glantz, director of the Center of Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, teenagers and adults can also get a measurable level from the settled smoke.
Unlike second-hand smoke, even when somebody does not directly inhale the gases, he or she is at risk of cancer at any age. Although not as dangerous as smoking a cigarette or second-hand smoke, there has been a significant level of toxic chemicals that have been measured in the hair of those affected by third-hand smoke.
For children and teenagers, the smoke residue could also damage brain development.
Although both smokers and non-smokers alike are generally aware of the dangers of second-hand smoke, the study showed that only 43 percent of smokers were aware that the air in a room in which somebody smoked the day before is harmful to others.
Even though there are many ways to get rid of second-hand smoke, according to Glantz, the only real solution would be to scrub the whole area clean of the gas particles.
“It’s pretty hard to get rid of because the particles are really small and they’re very sticky,” he said.
Other than eliminating all of the toxins, a person can only completely prevent third-hand smoke by not lighting up with a cigarette.