A team of researchers from the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have revealed how Thirdhand Smoke could
prove to be dangerous too, and could cause DNA damage.
Thirdhand smoke, which is
basically the residual smoke left over on surfaces such as walls, floors and
furniture, can be extremely dangerous to health, for many reasons.
Firstly, thirdhand smoke can't be
removed by simple daily cleaning methods like wiping the furniture and floors.
Secondly, thirdhand smoke also tends to linger around for several months, even
after the smoker may have left the house/room.
"This is the very first study to find that thirdhand smoke is
mutagenic," Berkeley Lab scientist and co-author of the study, Lara Gundel,
explained. "Tobacco-specific nitrosamines, some of the chemical compounds in
thirdhand smoke, are among the most potent carcinogens there are. They stay on
surfaces, and when those surfaces are clothing or carpets, the danger to
children is especially serious."
Using two in vitro assays- the
Comet assay and the long amplicon-qPCR assay, the researchers checked for
genotoxicity and discovered that thirdhand smoke was capable for causing
oxidative DNA damage, which further led to gene mutation.
"Until this study, the toxicity of thirdhand smoke has not
been well understood," lead investigator and biochemist at the Life Science
Division of Berkeley Lab, Bo Hang said. "Thirdhand smoke has a smaller quantity
of chemicals than secondhand smoke, so it's good to have experimental evidence
to confirm its genotoxicity."
This study further explained the
seriousness of thirdhand smoke on health, and revealed that the thirdhand smoke
could become harmful over the time. "The
cumulative effect of thirdhand smoke is quite significant," Gundel added. "The
findings suggest the materials could be getting more toxic with time."
The researchers finally concluded
that thirdhand smoke may have an important role to play in the development of
many health problems, and new strategies may be required to achieve prevention
of the possible health risks.