Watch out for Third-hand Smoke

[TheRiddick]

Originally Posted by akumushi

All I'm saying is that if the data can be fudged one way, it can be fudged the other, and I don't see any studies from tobacco lobbied scientists, or anyone else for that matter, that are refuting these findings, and as such I have no good reason to doubt them. Show me contrary findings in another study and I'll start to have doubts. The nitric acid thing is a good point Riddick, so there may be less to worry about than the scare-mongers would have you think. Nevertheless, a post smoke shower and clothes change is a small sacrifice to make for the safety of my children.

OK, a quick contrary study for you.

Taken directly from the article:
The researchers used cellulose as a model of indoor material, and exposed it to cigarette smoke. They then exposed it to a "high but reasonable" concentration of nitrous acid for three hours. The levels of newly formed TSNAs were 10 times higher after the nitrous acid exposure. The TSNAs also formed quickly, the researchers found.



Then, an explanation of how nitrous acid happens (since it only happens naturally way up in the sky):
Since most vehicle engines emit some nitrous acid that can infiltrate the passenger compartments, tests were also conducted on surfaces inside the truck of a heavy smoker, including the surface of a stainless steel glove compartment.

To sum up, these "unbiased", "neutral" scientists parked a truck in someone's living room for over 3 hours, then smoked a bunch of cigarettes on top of that. Yep, something all of us do on a daily basis. Also, pay attention to that "heavy smoker" description, that may be key as well.

I am not saying that second hand smoke is not a bad thing, simply that the study would have had way more merit had it not gone into typical "hysteria mode" a number of highly visible "studies" have gone to lately (global warming anyone?). Like I said, show me some numbers. Heavy smoker is what? Pack a day, 2, 3? And what are the chances that same heavy smoker parks his vehicle inside the house (or apt) with the engine running and then decides to smoke a few packs while watching superbowl, 100%, 200%, 1%?