Cancer update: Your Ottoman’s smoking habit is deadly
According to a new article by Scientific American, third hand smoke is yet another way PhilipMorris can kill your children.
According to Jonathan Winickoff, a pediatrician in the Boston-based Harvard Cancer Center, “third-hand smoke is tobacco smoke contamination that remains after the cigarette has been extinguished.”
Third hand smoke contains some of the same toxins as second and first hand smoke, but has comparably little notoriety.
Children, babies in particular, are especially endangered as they tend to crawl around on carpets and furniture, materials which are most likely to retain some of the toxins from third hand smoke. Their proximity to these materials means they inhale more dust than adults: taking their diminutive body-size into account, children inhale 20 times the amount of dust.
The article also cites the well known fact that the developing brain is much more susceptible to even low amounts of toxins, you know, those found in cigarettes. As three concrete examples, the article mentions:
- Lead: a substance that has been associate to diminished IQ in even small levels.
- Cyanide: used in chemical weapons and the teeth of secret agents.
- Arsenic: aka Rat Poison.
With all of this information about how completely nasty cigarette smoke is, CNN took the story a step further and looked to investigate why the hell so many people continue to smoke.
The CDC reports approximately 43.4 million Americans smoke. The CNN article even has a great graphic illustrating smoking rates per state. Washington state boasts an amazing 16.8% smoking rate, which is drastically lower than the rates in the majority of the Midwest (save Mormon-heavy-Utah..). It’s also below the U.S. average of 19.8%. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t coincide heavily yet with states that have enacted smoking bans.
The CNN article draws some really interesting conclusions:
- The prevalence of smoking has a direct correlation to education status, which often is equivalent to income status.
- Approximately 90% of smokers start smoking in high school. (When we’re all uneducated.)
- Groups of severely disadvantaged people have smoking rates of more than 40%.
- It’s disgustingly hard to quit.
On a personal level, I’ve never wanted to smoke because of the blatantly obvious health detriments, both to myself and to those around me. I often found it hard to stand up for myself when I was around friends who smoke, as many are oblivious to how heinous it is to be in the presence of their smoke. With the knowledge that a night spent around second hand smoke now turns me into a toxic offender, I think (at least hope) it’ll be easier to avoid spending extended periods of time around smokers inside.
I’d also hope to see more smoke-free homes.