Second Hand Smoke

[DrFaroohk]

We all know second hand smoke is bad for you. But exactly how bad?

It seems like every time they do a test on it, its like "Here, we locked this rat in a glass box, and we're going to fill it with the smoke from 30 cartons of marlboro reds!"

Which isn't realistic.

I'm wondering if there have been specific tests done to see how far the smoke travels and how long it persists in an area.

For instance, they banned smoking in cars with children in my state a while back. The information they used to support this law was an example of a guy smoking in a stationary vehicle with the windows rolled up. Of COURSE that's bad! But put it in a realistic situation - child in the back seat, opposite side of the smoker, car is moving, window is cracked. Watch all the smoke waft right out the window. Where's the danger to the child?

I also saw a commercial on TV that showed a father smoking downstairs in the living room, and the smoke took on this living entity, traveled upstairs, down the hall, opened the door and went into the child's room. It wasn't supposed to be a metaphor for the evils of smoking, they were trying to depict that smoke actually does that.

I'd be interested in seeing some actual test results. Say, put a "cigarette sensor" in the back seat of a car, and see how much it actually picks up while you're driving and smoking. Or put them in different rooms of the house, and test how far the smoke gets from the smoker, and how long it stays there and has actual cancerous effects on people.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Um, smoke actually DOES do that. I can tell you firsthand that it does.

And all cracking a car window does is make sure most of the smoke ends up in the back seat. I can tell you that firsthand, too. Air blows INTO a moving car, not out of one. It blows straight into the back of the car. In fact, it creates a suction. Don't believe me? Hit the highway, crank down the driver's side window and pour a glass of water out.

I grew up during a time most people smoked. It wasn't good for me, and it was even worse for my sister, who to this day has chronic respitory probllems.

[DrFaroohk]

On what planet does that happen? I smoke in my car all the time, and I've actually watched the smoke get sucked out. Seen it first hand. Want me to post a video of it?

[Boozy]

Banning smoking in cars with children in them seems a little silly, considering that there (presumably) isn't a law banning smoking in homes with children. And it seems that a person who would smoke inside a car with kids would also smoke in a home with kids.

Although I guess that banning smoking inside cars is enforceable, whereas banning smoking in a home is not. A police officer can see inside most cars, but not into people's homes without a warrant.

[powerboy]

On what planet does that happen? I smoke in my car all the time, and I've actually watched the smoke get sucked out. Seen it first hand. Want me to post a video of it?

I know that what happens when I smoke in my car. It gets sucked out.

[Greenday]

Smoking in a car, I don't know seeing as I don't let people smoke in my car.

Now, does second hand smoke travel through a house? That is an undoubtable yes. Cigarette smoke diffuses just like everything else. Mom's baking cookies downstairs in the kitchen and the smell travels upstairs. Same as if mom's smoking in the kitchen, the smoke travels upstairs.

[DrFaroohk]

Yes, but if you smell mom's cookies baking, that doesn't mean you've actually eaten a cookie. Even as a smoker I can tell which rooms smell like smoke and which ones don't. The kids rooms never smell like smoke. We smoke in the living room at night after they've gone to bed, and that doesn't smell like smoke in the morning.

[DesignFox]

You may also not notice the smoke smell because you do it every day- and you are a smoker.

If you bring a non-smoker into your home I bet you they'll notice it right away.

I don't see why the law should get involved though. What you do in your car or in your home is your choice.

The only thing I can see that can be done is educate people about the effects the smoke may have on their children. Believe me, my mother smoked back in the dark ages when they didn't have a wealth of studies and information about the dangers of smoking- this stuff was just becoming readily available to the public. She still never smoked in the house. And eventually, she quit because she "didn't want to be a disappointment" to me when I got older.

*shrug*

I don't know if second hand smoke is as dangerous as they say it is or not. But I know the effect it used to have on me when I was forced to endure the smoking section of a restaurant, or the second hand smoke of some of my friends in their homes or in their cars. I no longer closely associate with many smokers, and when the few I do hang out with go out with me, I request they do not smoke unless we are outside.

The smell clings in my hair, gives me burning, itchy eyes, a cough and a sinus headache. I could not tolerate living with someone who smokes. It would quite negatively impact my well-being.

Our state only went smoke-free a handful of years ago, and the difference has been so superb for me that I only barely remember a time when I was apprehensive about going out because I didn't want to come home smelling like smoke. It would take two showers to get the smell out of my lion's mane, and god forbid it was too late to take a shower- the smell would wind up in everything!

*ahem* Anyway- your home is your home. Your car is your car. In those regards, the government should back off.

[DrFaroohk]

As I said, even being a smoker, I can still smell which rooms have been smoked in vs. which ones haven't.

Anyway, we're starting to get OT. My basic thing was is there actual studies that show the dangers? I don't really think "it smells bad" is a viable answer, as many many things smell bad, and smelling something doesn't equal ingesting it.

[DesignFox]

I don't know. I only know the immediate affect the second hand smoke has on myself. Therefore, I wouldn't choose to expose children or anyone else to it. But then, with how it affects me secondhand, I'd never smoke to begin with.

*shrug*

[Greenday]

If you can smell smoke, you are taking in the chemicals. I won't get into all the huge chemicals coming from smoking, but here's a simple bi-product we all know is dangerous: carbon monoxide. Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide which binds to hemoglobin, making your body less able to carry oxygen.

[Pedersen]

smelling something doesn't equal ingesting it.

Ouch. My poor brain.

Biology lesson: Your sense of smell is triggered when cells in your nose interact with particles in the air. As such, in order for you to smell anything at all, some amount of that substance must enter your body through your nose.

That's right, for you to smell dog poo, dog poo actually enters your nose. For you to smell cigarette smoke, cigarette smoke enters your nose. It is now inside your body. define:ingest. You have ingested the smoke.

Another biology lesson: Your brain fires off electrcical signals in response to the quantity of incoming signals. In other words, if there's a lot of smoke, the chunk of your brain that is responsible for responding to the smell of smoke sends off lots of signals to the rest of the brain. However, over time, your brain will become desensitized to the level of incoming signal, and fire off less to the rest of the brain. In other words, over time, the chunk of your brain responsible for saying "I smell smoke" will stop sending out so many "I smell smoke" signals, letting other smells come in.

The surprising part? That "over time" bit is measured in, at most, minutes. After months, or even years, you will actually be incapable of registering the smell of cigarette smoke in the same way that a non-smoker does. What you will register as "a small amount of odor" will register to a non-smoker as "wall of smell that hit me when I opened the door".

These are simple facts of biology. You can read up on some of them here (specifically, check out chapter 26, complete with the bibliographic references).

As to the actual dangers of second hand smoke, I would suggest this study, which showed in rather nice detail what happens under a variety of conditions. Short answer: It's worse than you think it is in a car, even with the windows open.

[blas87]

Now they've even came up with Third Hand Smoke.....meaning the smoke that lingers in your hair, your clothes, your furniture, your car, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc.

That takes it a little too far. I do my best to chew gum, pop mints, spray some body spray. I am NOT a smelly smoker. I do not wreak. I smoke outdoors or in the car with the windows down. I'm sure there's some smoke smell on my dirty clothes, but they don't absolutely wreak of it. I'm not one of those people who smokes indoors all day long with no air circulation.

Leave us smokers alone. For Christ's Sake.....go pick on someone else for once. There's other bad habbits. Chewing your nails (did you know your liver has to process all the gunk under your nails? Even if you don't actually chew on them or eat them, the gunk gets into your mouth and goes through you), sticking your hair in your mouth, cracking your knuckles, picking your butt or your camel toe, adjusting your balls or your bra......THAT is disgusting to do in front of other people.

I swear to God, the next time a fat person comes up to me to berate me for my secondhand smoke, or someone picking their wedgie tries to lecture me.....heads will roll.

[linguist]

Leave us smokers alone. For Christ's Sake.....go pick on someone else for once. There's other bad habbits. Chewing your nails (did you know your liver has to process all the gunk under your nails? Even if you don't actually chew on them or eat them, the gunk gets into your mouth and goes through you), sticking your hair in your mouth, cracking your knuckles, picking your butt or your camel toe, adjusting your balls or your bra......THAT is disgusting to do in front of other people.

I swear to God, the next time a fat person comes up to me to berate me for my secondhand smoke, or someone picking their wedgie tries to lecture me.....heads will roll.

all of those may be bad habits that you find disgusting, but none of them physically affect anyone other than the person performing the act. smoking can. if i'm around someone who is smoking, or in some cases even being in close proximity to someone who is not smoking but has recently smoked, it's almost a guarantee that my asthma will act up. sometimes it's just a slight wheezing, sometimes a full on attack, but it does affect me.

[the_std]

Blas, the main reason that everyone seems to "pick" on smokers is because it is one of the only legal habits that affects other people. Being fat, chewing your nails, picking your butt... These are things that are not nearly as contagious, you could say, as smoking. That's the plain simple truth of it.

I will admit that a lot of these laws and and regulations do go too far, but this attention is rightly deserved.