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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : December 17, 2019 11:12 AM IST
Smokers and people with COPD have a higher level of an enzyme called ACE-2, which is the entry point for coronavirus in lungs. © Shutterstock
Third-hand smoke results when exhaled smoke and smoke emanating from the tip of burning cigarettes settles on surfaces such as clothing, hair, furniture, and cars. Not strictly smoke, this refers to the residues left behind by smoking. According to researchers from University of California Riverside, third-hand smoke can damage epithelial cells in the respiratory system by stressing cells and causing them to fight for survival. This can resurface into the atmosphere and can be inhaled unwillingly by non-smokers. The finding could assist physicians treating patients exposed to third-hand smoke. JAMA Network Open published this study. Another study at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says that 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.
If you or a family member is a smoker, it is highly advisable to consider quitting, for the sake of your own health and the health of others, especially if there are children in the house.
According to the American Heart Association, smoking is one of the biggest, yet preventable, causes of death and unfortunately it can impact non-smokers too in the form of second-hand and third-hand smoke.
First-hand smoke is the smoke directly taken in by the smoker. Second-hand smoke is what a non-smoker inhales by just being near someone who is smoking. This can have severe consequences on the non-smoker's health and studies show that it can increase a non-smoker's risk of developing heart diseases by 25 per cent.
Cigarette smoke contains nearly 7,000 chemicals including arsenic and tar. The nicotine in the cigarettes reacts with nitrous oxide to form certain cancer-causing substances called tobacco-specific nitrosamines. These substances and other residues from the smoke tend to stay on surfaces around the home, including the walls, furniture, toys and blinds to become third-hand smoke.
You can easily come into contact with these substances by touching the surfaces. People don't realize that they breath it in too. These toxins become more dangerous when combined with household toxins like cleaning solutions.
Third-hand smoke is a recent entrant to the dangerous side effects of smoking. Many have been studying its impact on the health of smokers and non-smokers alike. According to them, young children are the most vulnerable to third-hand smoke. This is because they have more access to all the possible surfaces where this residue accumulates.
Children exposed to third-hand smoke can develop conditions like asthma and pneumonia and may be more prone to infections. One study also noted that third-hand smoke might be a major factor in sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS.
While adults may be less prone to touching this residue, they are at risk too. Constant exposure to third-hand smoke at work or at home might increase the risk of different types of cancers impacting the lungs, mouth, kidneys and throat. In pregnant women, the constant exposure to this dangerous residue can impact the health of the baby. It can increase the baby's risk of developing respiratory ailments.
Living in a smoke-free home may reduce your risk of exposure to third-hand smoke considerably. But in case there is a smoker at home, or a visitor insists on smoking indoors, you could give your whole house a thorough cleaning. This will remove any possible thirdhand smoke residue. We are all aware of how smoking can impact the health of a smoker. But we also need to understand that we may be putting ourselves in danger by simply sitting next to a smoker or touching surfaces with exposure to third-hand smoke.
Text sourced from zliving.com
