Third-hand smoke

Researchers point to a new health threat from smoking

There’s a new battleground in the smoking wars, said Stuart Laidlaw in the Toronto Star. A new study published in the journal Pedriatrics says that even many people who are aware of the dangers of second-hand smoke don’t realize that toxins left behind in hair, clothes, and seat cushions—“third-hand smoke”—can also be harmful.

“So,” said Jennifer Jordan in AOL, “it's not enough to turn on the fan or use one of those little smokeless ashtray thingees.” To protect your children, you’ll have to wash your hair, change clothes, and clean the room. Or, and here’s a crazy idea for those who still light up regularly, maybe it would “just be easier to stop smoking!!!”

The habit Americans really need to kick, said Greg Gutfeld in Fox News, is their addiction to junk science. After all, the researchers jump from saying that third-hand smoke is bad for babies to insisting that smoking moms should still breastfeed their little ones. Huh? This so-called science is "geared toward one end only: The banning of all smoking on private property—including your home."

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