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VIDEO: How dangerous is third-hand smoke? 

You've probably heard plenty of reports on the dangers posed by secondhand smoke. But could third-hand smoke be dangerous as well?

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Even 'third-hand' smoke is dangerous... especially to children  

The health risks of both puffing on a cigarette and second-hand smoke are well known. But a new study has found even 'third-hand' smoke is hazardous.

Researchers discovered tobacco smoke residues found on everyday surfaces react with molecules in indoor air to form potent cancer-causing chemicals.

Crawling toddlers can be exposed to a toxic brew of gases and particles that cling to a smoker's clothes, hair, cars and furniture long after second-hand smoke has cleared from a room.

Babies and toddlers are more at risk from 'third-hand' smoke because they breathe more quickly and brush on more surfaces

Environmental chemist Dr Hugo Destaillats and colleagues showed a dangerous reaction between nicotine and a pollutant known as HONO (nitrous acid) which is common in all buildings.

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CHAPMAN: Should the Health Community Promote Smokeless Tobacco (Snus): Author's Reply 

As someone who has researched and advocated for harm reduction in the HIV/AIDS [1] and narcotics areas [2], I am highly supportive of the general principle of reducing harm in public health. My recently released book [3] features a 29,000 word chapter examining the application of the term in tobacco control. My current position is that there is an overly seductive simplicity in drawing neat analogies with other areas of harm reduction when it comes to tobacco. It is obvious that there is immediate benefit to health and society from encouraging condom use and clean needle use. However, the putative benefits of population experiments with harm reduction will not be assessable for 30–40 years.

Behind most calls for harm reduction in tobacco control policy lie under-examined assumptions that there is a large intractable smoking population for whom cessation is “an impossible goal,” . . .

While a case may exist for carefully controlled access to snus by such a relatively small group, the case for allowing the foxes in the tobacco industry into the chicken coop of open sales and marketing should alarm anyone with their eyes open to the industry's bottom line. Recent insights confirm our caution that Big Tobacco sees snus as a way of arresting declines in smoking by promoting dual use.

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Should the Health Community Promote Smokeless Tobacco (Snus) 

• The Global Research Neglect of Unassisted Smoking Cessation: Causes and Consequences 

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Research shows that two-thirds to three-quarters of ex-smokers stop unaided. In contrast, the increasing medicalisation of smoking cessation implies that cessation need be pharmacologically or professionally mediated.

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Most published papers of smoking cessation interventions are studies or reviews of assisted cessation; very few describe the cessation impact of policies or campaigns in which cessation is not assisted at the individual level.

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Many assisted cessation studies, but few if any unassisted cessation studies, are funded by pharmaceutical companies manufacturing cessation products.

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Health authorities should emphasise the positive message that the most successful method used by most ex-smokers is unassisted cessation.

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• Willpower is better than patches if you want to quit smoking 

Smokers desperate to quit should put their faith in willpower rather than expensive patches and gums, researchers said last night.

A review of hundreds of studies into smoking cessation has revealed that the overwhelming majority of ex-smokers gave up without resorting to nicotine replacement therapies.

Old-fashioned willpower alone was enough to make them quit their habit.

What is more, studies which extol the virtues of nicotine patches, gums and pills are more than twice as likely to have been funded by drug companies than others, the Australian researchers said.

Simon Chapman, a professor of public health, said that governments were also guilty of medicalising smoking cessation and of making giving up sound harder than it actually is.

The Sydney University team's analysis of 511 studies on quitting smoking published in recent years showed that two-thirds to three-quarters of ex-smokers stopped unaided and that most said they had found it easier to quit than they had expected. . . .

But Amanda Sandford, of anti-smoking group Ash, disagreed with Professor Chapman's interpretation of the research.

She said that studies into the benefits of nicotine patches and gums were 'robust' and that 'all the evidence points to relying on willpower alone is not terribly successful'. . . .

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: 'This study is inconsistent with a very well established evidence-base. Smokers that attempt to quit without assistance are significantly less likely to quit successfully than those who quit with support.

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Cigarette Smoking is a Risk Factor for Alzheimer's Disease: An Analysis Controlling for Tobacco Industry Affiliation 

To examine the relationship between smoking and Alzheimer's disease (AD) after controlling for study design, quality, secular trend, and tobacco industry affiliation of the authors, electronic databases were searched . . .

The average risk of AD for cohort studies without tobacco industry affiliation of average quality published in 2007 was estimated to be 1.72 ± 0.19 (P< 0.0005). The available data indicate that smoking is a significant risk factor for AD.

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• Study shows cigarette smoking a risk for Alzheimer’s disease 

A UCSF analysis of published studies on the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and smoking indicates that smoking cigarettes is a significant risk factor for the disease. After controlling for study design, quality of the journals, time of publication, and tobacco industry affiliation of the authors, the UCSF research team also found an association between tobacco industry affiliation and the conclusions of individual studies. Industry-affiliated studies indicated that smoking protects against the development of AD, while independent studies showed that smoking increased the risk of developing the disease.

Study findings were published online today in the January issue (19:2) of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. . . .

The UCSF team reviewed 43 published studies from 1984 to 2007. Authors of one-fourth of the studies had an affiliation with the tobacco industry.

The UCSF team determined that the average risk of a smoker developing AD, based on studies without tobacco industry affiliation, was estimated to be 1.72, meaning that smoking nearly doubled the risk of AD. In contrast, the team found that studies authored by individuals with tobacco industry affiliations, showed a risk factor of .86 (less than one), suggesting that smoking protects against AD. When all studies were considered together, the risk factor for developing AD from smoking was essentially neutral at a statistically insignificant 1.05.

Previous reviews of the association between smoking and AD have not controlled for study design and author affiliation with the tobacco industry

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UCSF studies show relationship between Alzheimer's disease and smoking 

A UCSF analysis of published studies on the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and smoking indicates that smoking cigarettes is a significant risk factor for the disease. After controlling for study design, quality of the journals, time of publication, and tobacco industry affiliation of the authors, the UCSF research team also found an association between tobacco industry affiliation and the conclusions of individual studies. Industry-affiliated studies indicated that smoking protects against the development of AD, while independent studies showed that smoking increased the risk of developing the disease.

Study findings were published online today in the January issue (19:2) of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. . . .

Previous reviews of the association between smoking and AD have not controlled for study design and author affiliation with the tobacco industry, according to Cataldo. To determine if study authors had connections to the tobacco industry, the UCSF team analyzed 877 previously secret tobacco industry documents.

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• Smoking not good for the brain - study  

THE tobacco industry worked for two decades to skew research into smoking and Alzheimer's disease, to promote the wrong belief it could prevent the degenerative condition, a review of research has found.

US-based scientists have reviewed more than 40 research papers published since 1984, to highlight those with industry links which also suggested smoking could be good for the brain.

A quarter of the papers were found to have industry influence - either through direct funding or using researchers who were also consultants to the industry or who had other ties.

In many cases these relationships were not disclosed, according to the analysis, which found industry-linked papers dotted through the scientific literature up to 2003.

Professor Jurgen Gotz, from the University of Sydney's Brain & Mind Research Institute, welcomed the review . . .

The beneficial claim continues to circulate via the internet and occasionally it pops up in the mainstream press - including in a 2008 article published in the US' top selling Oprah Magazine.

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Behavioral Correlates of HPV Vaccine Acceptability in the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS)  

The primary purpose of the current study is to report on national acceptability of the HPV vaccine among U.S. adults with female children in the household and to investigate the health behavior correlates of vaccine acceptability. Data were drawn from the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). The study sample comprised 1,383 adults who reported having a female child under the age of 18 in their household (52% female, 59% white; mean age = 40 years). More than half (58%) reported they would have a daughter get the HPV vaccine, 25% were not sure, and 18% would not have a daughter vaccinated. Behavioral factors significantly associated with lower acceptance of the HPV vaccine included lack of physical activity in the past month (P = 0.002), past year use of complementary or alternative therapies (P = 0.021), and no history of smoking (P = 0.005). These results suggest that behavioral health factors may be associated with vaccine acceptability and further our understanding of how behavioral patterns may contribute to the uptake of new cancer prevention strategies.

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Thirdhand smoke forms indoor carcinogens, Lawrence Berkeley lab scientists report 

A common indoor air chemical reacts with residues of tobacco smoke clinging to clothing, skin and surfaces to form potent carcinogens, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory reported in a study published Monday.

A few years ago, researchers began paying closer attention to the potential health effects of "thirdhand smoke," which is a thin layer of toxic substances from tobacco smoke that settles on surfaces long after cigarettes have been extinguished.

The scientists, however, are the first to find that nitrous acid, an indoor air pollutant created by gas appliances, vehicle engines and tobacco smoke, reacts with nicotine found on surfaces.

"We want to make people aware that there's a potential hazard from thirdhand smoke that has not been recognized before," said Lara Gundel, one of the authors of the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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• Study: 'Electronic cigarettes' don't deliver  

Electronic cigarettes" that vaporize nicotine juice to inhale instead of smoke from burning tobacco do not deliver as promised, according to research at Virginia Commonwealth University.

"They are as effective at nicotine delivery as puffing on an unlit cigarette," said Dr. Thomas Eissenberg, at the school's Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies.

His study, funded by the federal National Cancer Institute, is the first by American doctors to check the function of so-called "no-smoke tobacco" devices . . .

The latest clinical evidence suggests users are not getting the addictive substance they get from smoking tobacco. "These e-cigs do not deliver nicotine," Eissenberg said of the findings he expects to publish in an upcoming issue of the British Medical Journal.

This past summer, Eissenberg recruited smokers without prior experience using e-cigarettes to volunteer to use two popular brands of the devices for a set period. The 16 subjects were regularly measured in a clinical setting for the presence of nicotine in their bodies, their reported craving for conventional cigarettes, and certain physiological effects such as a change in heart rate.

"Ten puffs from either of these electronic cigarettes with a 16 mg nicotine cartridge delivered little to no nicotine," the study found.

But the units may deliver hazardous chemicals, according to preliminary checks by federal regulators.

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'Third-hand smoke' could damage health 

Lingering residue from tobacco smoke which clings to upholstery, clothing and the skin releases cancer-causing agents, work in PNAS journal shows.

Berkeley scientists in the US ran lab tests and found "substantial levels" of toxins on smoke-exposed material.

They say while banishing smokers to outdoors cuts second-hand smoke, residues will follow them back inside and this "third-hand smoke" may harm.

Opponents called it a laughable term designed to frighten people unduly.

The scientists say nicotine stains on clothing, furniture and wallpaper can react with a common indoor pollutant to generate dangerous chemicals called tobacco-specific nitrosamines or TSNAs. . . .

er understand what threat, if any, TSNAs pose.

Amanda Sandford of Action on Smoking and Health said: "The harmful effects of second-hand smoke are already well-established but this study adds a new dimension to the dangers associated with smoking and provides further evidence of the need to protect children, in particular, from exposure to tobacco smoke.

"The study shows that the residue of smoke on surfaces represents a potential risk for cancer but so far we don't know how big at risk."

Simon Clark, director of the smokers' lobby group Forest, remained sceptical.

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Carcinogens form from third-hand smoke 

Nicotine in third-hand smoke, the residue from tobacco smoke that clings to virtually all surfaces long after a cigarette has been extinguished, reacts with the common indoor air pollutant nitrous acid to produce dangerous carcinogens. This new potential health hazard was revealed in a multi-institutional study led by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

"The burning of tobacco releases nicotine in the form of a vapor that adsorbs strongly onto indoor surfaces, such as walls, floors, carpeting, drapes and furniture. Nicotine can persist on those materials for days, weeks and even months. Our study shows that when this residual nicotine reacts with ambient nitrous acid it forms carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines or TSNAs," says Hugo Destaillats, a chemist with the Indoor Environment Department of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division. "TSNAs are among the most broadly acting and potent carcinogens present in unburned tobacco and tobacco smoke."

Destaillats is the corresponding author of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Co-authoring the PNAS paper with Destaillats were Mohamad Sleiman, Lara Gundel and Brett Singer, all with Berkeley Lab's Indoor Environment Department, plus James Pankow with Portland State University, and Peyton Jacob with the University of California, San Francisco.

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