Third Hand Smoke

High risk of nicotine transfer from clothing

Another day,another horrible story about nicotine,smoking,parenting and science.

Here again the results were unambiguous: in the laboratory experiment, scientists say the toxins from the cigarette smoke that were dissolved in the perspiration caused massive damage to the skin cells; for example, they changed their shape and even, where the concentration was high, died off. Similarly, nerve cells, which are particularly active during the early stages of development, showed clear changes and were no longer able to connect properly with one another. The Hohenstein scientists are now publishing the results of their work in a scientific journal.

How a baby's skin cell reacts in a lab under controlled conditions isn't exactly how an infant's skin will react to the same conditions away from the lab.

I can't pretend to understand the science behind it but I am pretty sure the immune system plays a role in how our bodies,skin and organs handle toxins on a day to day basis.
It's not that I question the ethics of the scientists it is only that conditions in a lab don't reflect conditions in the real world.

Third hand smoke for those who might not already know it was an odd concept.

Richard White author of the excellent book Smoke Screens has a wonderful post about it on his blog.

When you read about how the research was carried out on this" new smoking catastrophe" I'm sure you won't be surprised,I know I wasn't.

Richard White On Thirdhand Smoke