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medpundit |
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Wednesday, February 25, 2004Parents who smoke could be exposing their children to worrying levels of nicotine through household dust. A team at San Diego State University found tobacco trapped in household dust could expose children to the equivalent of several hours of smoking. .....Dr Georg Matt and colleagues studied 49 homes with an infant aged between two and 12 months old. They took samples of dust, surfaces, the child's hair and urine, and placed nicotine monitors in the child's bedroom and the main living room. They found in homes where the parents smoked outside levels of tobacco contaminants were still up to seven times higher than in houses where neither parent smoked. In homes where adults smoked inside, tobacco toxicity levels were up to eight times higher than homes where parents smoked outside. The paper is supposedly in Tobacco Control, a journal devoted, as you might guess, to controlling tobacco around the world. But, as of this writing, I couldn't find the paper. I have no doubt that there are higher amounts of tobacco products in the homes of people who smoke than in the homes of non-smokers. The question is, are these particles really as harmful as the news item makes them sound? I have my doubts. posted by Sydney on 2/25/2004 06:59:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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