SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) – You’ve heard of the damaging health effects of smoking and secondhand smoke. But what happens when the smoke settles?
According to scientists, smoke literally sticks around for a while, as something they are calling “thirdhand smoke.”
Karolyn Ballard learned about it the hard way. Her new apartment had been painted and scrubbed, carpets cleaned. What she didn’t know was a heavy smoker just moved out.
“I woke up at night,” Ballard said, “and I could just smell the tobacco smell getting worse every night. It was like it was just oozing out of the walls.”
“It can be a real problem,” said landlord and professional ServPro cleaner Paul Watts. His crew wears protective gear to scrub a smoker’s house, to prevent nicotine poisoning.
“It’s a very long, slow process. And it has to be cleaned off before you can put paint, or else it’s going to bleed through the paint,” Watts said.
We’ve all smelled “thirdhand smoke” in places such as bars and stale hotel rooms. Now scientists are beginning to study it.
At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a chain-smoking machine puffs away on eight cigarettes at a time, depositing smoke residue on various materials so scientists can study the fallout and chemical reactions.
Researchers Mohamad Sleiman and Lara Gundel say nicotine is the gift that keeps on giving. The residue hangs around for weeks or months, they found, sticking to everything from clothes to carpets to kids — long after the smoker has gone.
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) – You’ve heard of the damaging health effects of smoking and secondhand smoke. But what happens when the smoke settles?
According to scientists, smoke literally sticks around for a while, as something they are calling “thirdhand smoke.”
Karolyn Ballard learned about it the hard way. Her new apartment had been painted and scrubbed, carpets cleaned. What she didn’t know was a heavy smoker just moved out.
“I woke up at night,” Ballard said, “and I could just smell the tobacco smell getting worse every night. It was like it was just oozing out of the walls.”
“It can be a real problem,” said landlord and professional ServPro cleaner Paul Watts. His crew wears protective gear to scrub a smoker’s house, to prevent nicotine poisoning.
“It’s a very long, slow process. And it has to be cleaned off before you can put paint, or else it’s going to bleed through the paint,” Watts said.
We’ve all smelled “thirdhand smoke” in places such as bars and stale hotel rooms. Now scientists are beginning to study it.
At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a chain-smoking machine puffs away on eight cigarettes at a time, depositing smoke residue on various materials so scientists can study the fallout and chemical reactions.
Researchers Mohamad Sleiman and Lara Gundel say nicotine is the gift that keeps on giving. The residue hangs around for weeks or months, they found, sticking to everything from clothes to carpets to kids — long after the smoker has gone.
article continues:
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/02/08/researchers-raise-concerns-about-‘thirdhand-smoke’/ 
