Today's Health URL

[chrishansenhome]

I really intensely dislike sharing a lift or other conveyance with someone who is a heavy smoker, especially if they've stubbed out their cigarette just before they get into said lift. The odour of stale smoke that pervades their hair, skin, and clothing is really, in ways, more disgusting than breathing their smoke.

Well, I never knew there was a term for this: it's third-hand smoke, and according to an article in the New York Times, it can be as carcinogenic to people other than the smoker as second- or first-hand smoke.

I don't know what can be done about this, though. The only way to avoid third-hand smoke is to require a complete change of clothing and a shower after each cigarette.

Comments

[ptownnyc.livejournal.com]

Ridiculous.

I am sure that simply having a taxi pass by as you are on a sidewalk is infinitely more toxic to someone than the SMELL of a cigarette.

Sheer idiocy.

[mrpandabehr.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks for the heads up.

A part of my has known this since I was a kid, but didn't see any research on it.

Logically, it all makes sense. When I was in high school I did a school project where I put a house plant into a 2 liter soda bottle and then cut a small hole in the side to put a cigarette through to fumigate the plant to see what happens. The plant slowly died over the course of 10 days. During the experiment I noticed that the inside wall of the soda bottle had this really stinky oily lite brown liquid coating it. This study just goes to show that that coating inside of the bottle is toxic, which makes sense and is what must be on smoker's clothing & hair.

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

Oh, ick. I'm starting to think that smoking needs to be made so expensive and so socially a FAIL that no one will smoke.