Tobacco.org

Thirdhand Smoke Forms Cancer-Causing Residue Indoors That Lasts 

Tobacco smoke contamination lingering on furniture, clothes and other surfaces, dubbed thirdhand smoke, may react with indoor air chemicals to form potential cancer-causing substances, a study found.

After exposing a piece of paper to smoke, researchers found the sheet had levels of newly formed carcinogens that were 10 times higher after three hours in the presence of an indoor air chemical called nitrous acid commonly emitted by household appliances or cigarette smoke. That means people may face a risk from indoor tobacco smoke in a way that's never been recognized before, said one of the study's authors, Lara Gundel.

Previous research has shown that secondhand smoke, which is inhaled by nonsmokers exposed to fumes from cigarettes, raises the risk of cancer and heart disease. More research is needed to identify the potential health hazards of thirdhand smoke, Gundel said. Overall, tobacco use causes 20 percent of all cancer deaths, according to the study published in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We have considered that nicotine on surfaces has been pretty benign up to this point. It turns out we shouldn't say that now," said Gundel, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, in a Feb. 5 telephone interview. "People can be exposed to toxins in tobacco smoke in a way that's never been recognized before."

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Scientists Identify New Danger From Tobacco Smoke 

Here's yet another reason to book a nonsmoking hotel room.

Scientists have long known that the residue from cigarette smoke clings to surfaces for weeks and even months. Now there is new research indicating that the film left by burning tobacco, when exposed to a chemical often found in the air, forms a brew of potent carcinogens that can coat clothing, dust particles and even human skin.

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• 2nd UPDATE: Lorillard To Enter Moist Smokeless Tobacco Category  

Newport cigarette maker Lorillard Inc. (LO) announced Monday it will soon enter the market for moist smokeless tobacco products, but said that an earlier joint venture with Swedish Match AB (SWMA.SK) to develop a new product in the U.S. had been mutually terminated.

Moist smokeless tobacco is a type of tobacco product that is popular in the U.S. and widely sold by companies like Altria Group Inc. (MO) through brands like Copenhagen and Skoal. Sales of these smokeless tobacco products have risen in the U.S. even as cigarette sales have dropped.

Lorillard didn't provide details of the new moist smokeless tobacco product it will sell in the U.S. but said that an existing joint venture with Swedish Match to develop a new "snus" tobacco product for the U.S. had been terminated. Snus is a nearly 200-year-old Swedish product. In 2006 Lorillard entered into a joint venture with Swedish Match North America to develop and study the possibility of marketing a tobacco product for the U.S. market called Triumph Snus.

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Formation of carcinogens indoors by surface-mediated reactions of nicotine with nitrous acid, leading to potential thirdhand smoke hazards  

This study shows that residual nicotine from tobacco smoke sorbed to indoor surfaces reacts with ambient nitrous acid (HONO) to form carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs). Substantial levels of TSNAs were measured on surfaces inside a smoker’s vehicle. Laboratory experiments using cellulose as a model indoor material yielded a > 10-fold increase of surface-bound TSNAs when sorbed secondhand smoke was exposed to 60 ppbv HONO for 3 hours. In both cases we identified 1-(N-methyl-N-nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridinyl)-4-butanal, a TSNA absent in freshly emitted tobacco smoke, as the major product. The potent carcinogens 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridinyl)-1-butanone and N-nitroso nornicotine were also detected. Time-course measurements revealed fast TSNA formation, with up to 0.4% conversion of nicotine. Given the rapid sorption and persistence of high levels of nicotine on indoor surfaces—including clothing and human skin—this recently identified process represents an unappreciated health hazard through dermal exposure, dust inhalation, and ingestion. These findings raise concerns about exposures to the tobacco smoke residue that has been recently dubbed “thirdhand smoke.” Our work highlights the importance of reactions at indoor interfaces, particularly those involving amines and NOx/HONO cycling, with potential health impacts.

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'Third-Hand Smoke' Could Be Troublesome, Too  

Tobacco smoke residue found on indoor surfaces -- so-called "third-hand smoke" -- can interact with airborne compounds to form new, potentially cancer-causing substances, research suggests.

Details about the potential role such third-hand smoke might play and what health concerns it might create remain unclear, however, awaiting further study.

"We're talking here about compounds that were not originally emitted by cigarettes but that may form indoors as a result of the residue that settles indoors, after smoking, which then mixes with indoor chemistry," explained Hugo Destaillats, a chemist in the indoor environment department of Berkeley National Laboratory in California and a co-author of the study.

"It's this third-hand smoke residue that is the source of the smells that we all easily perceive in a room or a car where cigarettes have been smoked, as a consequence of such places being coated with cigarette emissions," he said. "And we found that such emissions do give rise to new pollutants when they react with non-cigarette compounds found indoors."

The findings are published in the Feb. 8 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Observations: Third-hand smoke contains carcinogens too, study says 

Anyone walking into a smoker's abode can tell you that the traces of tobacco use don't vanish when a cigarette or cigar is extinguished. But just what happens to this "third-hand" smoke once the air has cleared--and can it still be harmful?

A team of researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that remnants of a smoke don't just inertly settle onto surfaces, they can react with a common gas (nitrous acid, which is emitted from gas appliances and vehicles, among other sources) to create carcinogenic compounds known as tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs). The group reported the findings in a study published online February 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

These "TSNAs are among the most broadly acting and potent carcinogens present in unburned tobacco and tobacco smoke," Hugo Destaillats, a chemist at the lab's Indoor Environment Department and coauthor of the paper, said in a prepared statement.

Second-hand smoke itself contains TSNAs, but the presence of nitrous acid in an environment can increase their numbers in the hours after smoking has ceased.

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Study reveals new details on the dangers of third-hand smoke 

In tests at Berkeley Lab of celluose surfaces contaminated with nicotine residues from third-hand smoke, levels of newly formed TSNAs rose 10 times following a three hour exposure to nitrous acid. TSNAs are potent carcinogens. Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs

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.

"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."

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Exclusive: Scots smokers refuse to call it quits despite ban  

THE smoking ban has failed to persuade Scots to pack in the habit, we can reveal.

Government figures show the numbers of smokers are about the same as when the ban was introduced in 2006.

The statistics will shock politicians who believed the ban would lead to a huge reduction in the numbers of smokers.

At the time, it was suggested that 70 per cent of smokers wanted to give up.

The figures also show that Scotland has more smokers than any other area of the UK - despite the ban starting here first.

Last night, sources close to the government admitted there had been no significant decline in smoker numbers.

Simon Clark, director of the smokers' lobby group FOREST, said: "People have not given up smoking. They simply smoke elsewhere - in the street or at home.

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ComVal implements "no smoking" policy 

Governor Arturo T. Uy led the provincial officials and the department heads in a ceremonial signing of the "No Smoking" signage bearing the International No Smoking Symbol during the provincial government's launching of the No Smoking Policy this February.

The implementation of the policy serves as a strong support to Memo Circular No. 17, series of 2009 of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) which encourages people to quit smoking for health reasons and to protect people from secondhand smoke. Such policy finds legal basis from the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 (Republic Act 9211) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

As an immediate response to the said CSC Memo Circular, Governor Uy issued Memorandum Order No. 025, series of 2010 addressed to all employees for the strict implementation of such policy.

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City wakes up to ban on smokingx 

LUDHIANA: Ban on smoking in public and also no sale of tobacco products to minors has gone to the wind as in the last nine months, the health department could issue only 12 challans. As if rising from slumber to make the city smoke-free, the health department is once again planning to start a drive, and a meeting is scheduled for Monday to discuss the issue.

One can easily see tobacco sellers offering pan masala, cigarettes near residential areas or in front of educational institutes without a check. The fact that the administration did not receive even a single complaint on the helpline started for the purpose proves that the ban was never implemented.

The ban was imposed on October 2, 2008, but since then the health department issued warnings to only one city club for not following the norms and challaned only 12 people for smoking at public places like Model Town, Mall Road, and the bus stand. As per the law, any person found smoking in public has to pay a minimum fine of Rs 200, but that has hardly deterred people because there is no one to implement the ban.

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Passive Smoking and Tuberculosis 

Conclusions

Similar to active smoking, passive exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke in the household also predisposes to the development of TB. Increased emphasis should therefore be put on tobacco control in national TB programs.

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Smoking may pose 'third-hand' cancer hazard 

Residues of cigarette smoke deposited on indoor surfaces can turn carcinogenic when they react with airborne chemicals. This "third-hand" exposure could in theory cause health problems, particularly in children, says Hugo Destaillats, a specialist in indoor pollution at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

His team found several chemicals on the inside of the cab of a half-pack-a-day smoker's truck, including a carcinogen called a NNK. Destaillats's team reckon that NNK is produced when nicotine from tobacco smoke reacts with nitrous acid in the air.

To test the theory, the team deposited either nicotine or tobacco smoke on sheets of paper, and exposed them to nitrous acid. In both cases this produced the same chemicals found in the smoker's cab.

"Nicotine can persist on indoor surfaces for days, weeks and even months," says Destaillats. Young children who spend a lot of time on the floor could absorb these compounds through their skin, and the researchers argue that this means people should not smoke in homes and cars, and should replace nicotine-laden furniture and carpets.

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• Nicotine study sparks 'third-hand smoke' fears  

Scientists have found that significant quantities of cancer-causing chemicals are produced on indoor surfaces contaminated by tobacco smoke even when a smoker has been away from the room for hours or even days.

The potentially damaging substances in "third-hand" smoke are present in sufficient amounts on chairs, tables, carpets and even skin to pose a danger to non-smokers, particularly young children, according to an analysis of cancer-causing agents produced by the interaction of stale cigarette smoke and other indoor pollutants.

They found that nicotine can stick to indoor surfaces for days where it interacts with nitrous acid formed from the gas nitrous oxide, released by car exhausts and gas appliances. When combined, the two chemicals form tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) which can cause cancer, said Mohamad Sleiman of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. . . .

The latest study attempted to analyse the toxins involved and to quantify the risk. It found that some of most damaging substances are produced when nicotine, which is not considered to be one of the damaging constituents of cigarette smoke, interacts with the pollutant nitrous oxide, created by the combustion of petrol and gas. . . .

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that levels of TSNAs rose tenfold within a few hours of exposing a nicotine-contaminated surface to "high but reasonable" concentrations of nitrous oxide, about 60 parts per billion. They found similarly high levels of TSNAs in the cab of a lorry driver who smoked heavily.

"Smoking outside is better than smoking indoors but nicotine residues will stick to a smoker's skin and clothing. These residues follow a smoker back inside and get spread everywhere," said Lara Gundel, who collaborated on the project.

"The biggest risk is to young children. Dermal uptake of the nicotine through a child's skin is likely to occur when the smoker returns and if nitrous acid is in the air, which it usually is, then TSNAs will be formed," Dr Gundel said.

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HENNINGFIELD: Secondhand Smoke and Infectious Disease in Adults: A Global Women's Health Concern: Comment on "Passive Smoking and Tuberculosis" ($$) 

Secondhand smoke is a major cause of disease, including lung cancer and coronary heart disease in adults and lower respiratory illness, middle ear disease, and asthma in children. Because the prevalence of smoking is much higher in men than in women, secondhand smoke disproportionately harms women. The scope of harm to women caused by secondhand smoke is both illustrated and widened by this study by Leung and coworkers. The investigators studied never-smoking married women in China, a country where 60% of men smoke compared with only 4% of women. They found that women who were exposed to secondhand smoke in the home were significantly more likely to develop tuberculosis (TB) than women who were not exposed.

The strengths of Leung and coauthors' study are that it included a large cohort of generally healthy women aged 65 to 74 years on entry into the study along with . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Fewer young people smoking: StatsCan 

Whole smoking rates in Canada remain mostly unchanged since last year, fewer people aged 20-24 are lighting up.

According to a new study from Statistics Canada, 17% of Canadians were smokers in 2009, down just 1% from the previous year.

But smokers aged 20-24 dropped from 28% in 2008 to 21% in 2009 - the lowest figure this decade.

Nathan Downey, 24, an English student in St. John's, N.L. Is among the rare smokers, and said while there are always a few smokers at any social gathering, they are definitely in the minority.

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