If you are a smoker with a child, are you aware of the dangers of third hand smoke? We've long thought that so long as we smoke when the kids aren't around then we are not doing anyone any damage, but new research for the journal Paediatrics suggests otherwise.
The study found that when you smoke, toxins from the tobacco smoke get in your hair and clothing. When you come into contact with your baby, your child comes in contact with those toxins, even if you're not smoking at the time.
It is no longer a secret that cigarettes contain 250 poisonous gases, chemicals, and metals -- including hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, butane, ammonia, toluene, arsenic, lead, chromium, cadmium, and polonium-210 (a highly radioactive carcinogen).
Children are the ones most susceptible to this ‘third hand smoke' because they crawl and play on the ground, cushions, carpet and furniture - and often put those same hands straight into their mouth. These particles can also become air-born when you walk across the carpet or disturb the cushions, especially at baby height.
Third hand smoke helps to further explain why children in smokers' homes are three times more likely to develop lung cancer, and are more likely to suffer from pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma and other lung disorders.
If you must continue to smoke, you can reduce the third hand transfer of these toxins, smoke only outdoors, wash your hands after smoking and change your clothes before playing with your child. Ideally you will also wash your hair after smoking, and utilise an air purifier to help remove the toxins.
If this is all a bit too hard then it might just be time to quit- it may be a bit easier now that smoking is becoming such a chore. This way you will still be around to see your children grow up happy and healthy.
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