Despite less than 20 percent of Americans being reported as smokers, up to 50 percent of children are exposed to secondhand and thirdhand smoke, which can cause health problems for them now and in the future. Thirdhand smoke, toxicants from smoking that linger on clothes, furniture, and skin, has caused growing concern for parents because of nicotine and tobacco toxicants that linger long after smoking has occurred. In the BMJ journal Tobacco Control, the University of Cincinnati found that children carry tobacco smoke toxicants on their hands, even when there are no people around them who are smoking. Residue from secondhand smoke can easily collect within the home, on clothing, and on skin, and these environmental tobacco toxicants can be transferred from children’s hands to their mouths and bodies. Though both the presence of secondhand smoke and thirdhand smoke pose a threat to the health of children, thirdhand smoke is more dangerous because it contains pollutants not found in secondhand smoke and will remain in environments longer, which makes children more susceptible to toxicants.
A study done with a group of 7,389 nonsmoking adolescents by the University of Cincinnati that was published in Pediatrics found that those who lived with a smoker and had thirdhand smoke exposure at home had short breath, had difficulty exercising, and were prone to wheezing during or after exercise. Even children who live with smokers who do not smoke at home are still potentially exposed to tobacco toxicants from thirdhand smoke. In response to this knowledge regarding secondhand and thirdhand smoke, society should not tolerate adolescents being exposed to tobacco smoke since it is careful to prevent children from being exposed to other harmful substances such as asbestos, alcohol, arsenic, and lead. With the understanding that breathing in secondhand smoke cause many deaths as a result of lung cancer and heart disease, as well as knowing that many chemicals in tobacco smoke are cancer causing, there should be better ways to protect both children and adults from the dangers of secondhand and thirdhand smoke. People can only do so much to avoid coming in contact and being in the presence of other smokers, and it seems that simply living in an environment where smoking is allowed to occur is all it takes to be susceptible to all sorts of health problems. With the rise of electronic cigarettes that provide nicotine to smokers and release no smoke containing harmful chemicals, it would be helpful if more people started using those as opposed to normal cigarettes. This would not only help protect others from secondhand and thirdhand smoke, but it would also reduce the health risks that smokers currently expose themselves to.
Interesting, but a story that is more in tune with health sciences than geosciences. What about air pollution in general? Pollution generated from burning fossil fuels? Similar idea of a story but with a geological source.