Toxins Form Cigarette Smoke Can Affect Non-Smokers Six Months After

Toxins from tobacco smoke have been shown to persist in smokers’ homes for at least six months after they quit and remain a threat to non-smoking residents. According to the findings in a study published in the journal ‘Tobacco Control’, even six months after smokers quit, non smokers in the same home still had detectable levels of a mark of tobacco exposure in their urine.
The United States’ National Cancer Institute, NCI, has affirmed that tobacco smoke contains many chemicals that are harmful to both smokers and non-smokers. “Breathing even a little tobacco smoke can be harmful,” the NCI states on its website.
“Of the more than 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 250 are known to be harmful, including hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, and ammonia. “Also, among the 250 known harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 69 can cause cancer.”
To establish that tobacco smoke linger in homes months after smokers quit, the research team studied 65 smokers who quit smoking and discovered that tiny particles from burning tobacco get into surfaces such as carpets, wallpaper, ceiling, tiles, upholstery, clothes, blankets and pillows and were still present long after a smoker quit. There were large immediate declines in nicotine on surfaces and in dust, which then leveled off and remained the same, but still detectable, by the end of the study period.
Smoking has been found to harm nearly every bodily organ and organ system in the body and diminishes a person’s overall health. According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, smoking is a leading cause of cancer and death from cancer.
Secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard causing more than 41,000 deaths per year. It can cause or make worse a wide range of damaging health effects in children and adults, including lung cancer, respiratory infections and asthma.