2009-01-06 18:56:41 - "Third hand smoke" -- "the invisible yet toxic brew of gases and particles clinging to smokers' hair and clothing" [NY TIMES] -- was just identified in the medical journal Pediatrics as "toxic" and as a cancer risk to nonsmokers of all ages, especially to children of parents who smoke only outside the family home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/health/research/03smoke.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22third%20hand%20smoke%22&st=cse

Fortunately, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, the law provides protection against exposure to this substance, previously simply known simply as "tobacco smoke residue," which contains highly carcinogenic compounds, heavy metals, hydrogen cyanide (used in chemical weapons), butane (used in lighter fluid), toluene (found in paint thinners), arsenic, lead, and even radioactive Polonium-210 (used to murder a Russian spy).

A federal court has held that an employee whose health is adversely affected by tobacco smoke residue has a cause of action under the Americans With Disabilities Act [ADA] against an employer who refused to reduce his exposure in his workplace, and a complaint by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) recently forced a university to protect a woman and her

unborn child whose health was threatened by tobacco smoke residue on the clothing of an officemate who smoked outdoors.

In the latter situation one doctor stated that "her sensitivity is also to the tobacco smoke residue on the person or clothing of a smoker, not just the smoke in the air. Therefore, to protect her health, especially during her pregnancy, she should not be assigned to an office with someone who smokes during the work day.'

Another doctor said that "smoking and second hand smoke has known effects on the placenta that carries nourishment to the baby. Therefore, to protect her health and the health of her baby, she should not be assigned to an office with someone who smokes during the workday, even if that person doesn't smoke in that room.'

In addition to these two situations in which a nonsmoking man and woman (and her unborn child) were expressly protected from third hand smoke, several courts have recognized at least by implication the right of children to be protected from third hand smoke.

Among the judges in dozens of states which have issued court orders protecting children involved in custody disputes from smoking in the home, many have stipulated that there be no smoking 24 or even 48 hours before the child's expected arrival, thereby providing protection from third hand smoke.

In addition, in many of the states which now protect foster children from tobacco smoke, smoking is banned in the home even when the child is not present, another indication of the need to protect children from third hand as well as second hand tobacco smoke, says Banzhaf.

Indeed, says Banzhaf, who heads Action on Smoking and Health, as the dangers of tobacco smoke residue become more widely known, both judges and legislators are likely to extend to nonsmokers the same protections from third hand tobacco smoke the law now extends regarding tobacco smoke itself.

PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III
Executive Director and Chief Counsel
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
2013 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006, USA
(202) 659-4310 // ash.org