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WASHINGTON (AFP) - You know smoking is bad for you. You know inhaling someone else's smoke is bad for you. Now a US study says third-hand smoke -- tobacco residue clinging to surfaces -- is also bad for you.
When a cigarette burns, nicotine is released in the form of a vapor that collects and condenses on indoor surfaces such as walls, carpeting, drapes and furniture, where it can linger for months, said the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Opening a window or turning on a fan to air out a room while a cigarette burns does not eliminate the hazard of third-hand smoke. Smoking outdoors doesn't help much either.
Originally posted by dashen
Bull, bunk and poppycock. You could have a bowel movement, mail it to the New England Journal of Medicine, and they would publish it, as long as I told them it proves smoking is bad for someone. Why don't they ever publish papers like "Jogging through Los Angeles, is worse than smoking three packs of filterless igarettes per day." "Working in a toll booth is worse than smoking two cartons a week". They won't, because theres no money to be made.
Originally posted by dashen
reply to post by tarifa37
Firstly, how do you know that you weren't in fact stripping lead paint all over yourself? How do you know that you werent experiencing something else, such as mold or mildew? Moreover, how do you know that the yellowing was in fact caused by nicotine, and not one of the many other chemicals present in many brands of cigarettes?
Originally posted by Detailed Perfection
reply to post by tarifa37
I agree wth Dashen. While I don't doubt your story at all, I do find it hard to believe that your skin irritation was a result from 40 years of built up nicotine on a ceiling.