Sponsor
Parts of the research reported here were supported by the California Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute, and the National Institutes of Health. N. Benowitz, M. Hovell, P. Jacob, G. Matt, J. Samet, S. Schick, and J. Winickoff were funded in part by grants from Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI).
Published In
Environmental Health Perspectives
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2011
Subjects
Passive smoking -- Health aspects, Tobacco smoke pollution, Tobacco -- Physiological effect, Tobacco -- Toxicology, Nicotine -- Toxicology, Biochemical markers
Abstract
There is broad consensus regarding the health impact of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure, yet considerable ambiguity exists about the nature and consequences of thirdhand smoke (THS). We introduce definitions of THS and THS exposure and review recent findings about constituents, indoor sorption-desorption dynamics, and transformations of THS; distribution and persistence of THS in residential settings; implications for pathways of exposure; potential clinical significance and health effects; and behavioral and policy issues that affect and are affected by THS. Physical and chemical transformations of tobacco smoke pollutants take place over time scales ranging from seconds to months and include the creation of secondary pollutants that in some cases are more toxic (e.g., tobacco-specific nitrosamines). THS persists in real-world residential settings in the air, dust, and surfaces and is associated with elevated levels of nicotine on hands and cotinine in urine of nonsmokers residing in homes previously occupied by smokers. Much still needs to be learned about the chemistry, exposure, toxicology, health risks, and policy implications of THS. The existing evidence on THS provides strong support for pursuing a programmatic research agenda to close gaps in our current understanding of the chemistry, exposure, toxicology, and health effects of THS, as well as its behavioral, economic, and sociocultural considerations and consequences. Such a research agenda is necessary to illuminate the role of THS in existing and future tobacco control efforts to decrease smoking initiation and smoking levels, to increase cessation attempts and sustained cessation, and to reduce the cumulative effects of tobacco use on morbidity and mortality.
DOI
10.1289/ehp.1103500
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/8889
Citation Details
Georg E. Matt, Penelope J.E. Quintana, Hugo Destaillats, Lara A. Gundel, Mohamad Sleiman, Brett C. Singer, Peyton Jacob III, Neal Benowitz, Jonathan P. Winickoff, Virender Rehan, Prue Talbot, Suzaynn Schick, Jonathan Samet, Yinsheng Wang, Bo Hang, Manuela Martins-Green, James F. Pankow, and Melbourne F. Hovell (2011) Thirdhand Tobacco Smoke: Emerging Evidence and Arguments for a Multidisciplinary Research Agenda, Environmental Health Perspectives, 119, 1218-1226. DOI: 10.1289/eph.1103500
Included in
Chemistry Commons, Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons, Environmental Public Health Commons
Description
Originally published in Environmental Health Perspectives. Article can be found at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/253/