Third-Hand Smoke Harms Babies Lungs
For years, women have been warned not to smoke while pregnant, and to stay away from other people who were smoking to avoid breathing in second-hand smoke. Now researchers at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) have added another warning for pregnant women: stay away from third-hand smoke to help protect their unborn children’s lungs.
Smoke, whether from cigarettes, cigars, or pipes, is known to contain chemicals that can damage lungs and cause cancer. People who smoke draw these dangerous chemicals directly into their lungs. Second-hand smoke is the left-over smoke floating in the air around a smoker. It may come directly from the cigarette, or may be in the air exhaled by a smoker. Second-hand smoke also contains nicotine and other cancer-causing chemicals.
Third-hand smoke is the residue of nicotine and other toxins from smoke that become trapped in the walls, ceilings, and floors of rooms where smoking took place. Research has shown that third-hand smoke can remain for up to two months after smoking took place. When this dusty residue is disturbed, it can become airborne and again pose a threat to anyone who breathes it in.
Researchers at LA BioMed concluded that third-hand smoke inhaled by a pregnant woman can be as serious for the development of an unborn baby’s lungs as breathing in second-hand smoke is to an infant or toddler. One of the authors of the BioMed study, Dr. Virender Rehan, called third-hand smoke a "stealth toxin" because it can be left behind by a smoker and cause damage to someone who doesn’t know it is there. He said, "Pregnant women should avoid homes and other places where third-hand smoke is likely to be found to protect their unborn children against the potential damage these toxins can cause to the developing infants’ lungs."
Damage caused by third-hand smoke during lung development can cause asthma and other respiratory problems that will last a lifetime. This study also shows that the strategy of going outside to smoke is not effective for protecting an unborn baby since third-hand smoke will also cling to clothing and be carried back into the house.
We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
Add a Comment3 Comments
Funny how nowhere in the entire article about this study does it mention how the study was conducted and who the subjects were.
May 12, 2011 - 8:17pm'
If you read the study itself however, you'll find that the study was done on the fetuses of FEMALE RATS. They basically killed the moms, extracted the unborn rats, yanked out their lungs, chopped those lungs up into tiny one millimeter cubes, and then soaked them in a solution of compounds with concentrations perhaps hundreds, perhaps millions, perhaps trillions of times more virulent than any unborn child's lungs would ever encounter in a standard situation from so-called "thirdhand smoke" even if you DID yank ou their lungs and chop them up!
'
And yet this study is being used, with help from the authors' statements like “Pregnant women should avoid homes and other places where thirdhand smoke is likely to be found to protect their unborn children against the potential damage these toxins can cause..."
'
When one considers the harms to human life, social fabric, and family structure that have been and will be caused by expositions like this the outcome is almost criminally reprehensible. Consider the grandparents who won't be visited by their children this year on Christmas because those children will be fearful of prenatally poisoning their babies' lungs by going to a house where people had smoked ten years previously. If this sort of yellow journalism or "yellow research" is not a crime, it certainly should be.
'
Michael J. McFadden,
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"
This Comment
I love this article. I remember my son sneezing and itching and simply struggling to breathe when he was at Grandma's house. She didn't smoke around him, it was simply being near her things. Her couch, her shirt, her hair, it all triggered a reaction. She always rolled her eyes and acted like we were all making it up and that he must have a cold, etc...
June 28, 2011 - 10:47amIt was pathetic. She NEVER looked at the way her grandson was reacting because it was too confronting for her and she would've had to acknowledge the impact. I always hoped there would be a study and this is not the first I've seen, but each time I see one- I feel so validated. Hooray for progress.
This doesn't state about infants outside of the womb. My sister was told third and fourth hand smoke can cause asthma in my nieces/nephews who are one years old and two years old. Is this accurate?!?!
April 11, 2012 - 3:49pm