“Third-hand smoke, not directly inhaling cigarette smoke, also causes cancer”

Smoking or secondhand smoke is a dangerous activity, such as causing cancer. However, a study that found that third-hand smoke can also cause cancer is shocking. / unsplash

Everyone knows that smoking tobacco is dangerous. However, even rubbing a smoker’s clothes or sharing the same space can be dangerous.

Exposure to toxic substances from cigarettes through smoking is called ‘third-hand smoke’. A study found that third-hand smoke can also cause cancer.

According to the New York Post on the 18th (local time), tobacco-specific nitrosamine (TSNA), a highly toxic carcinogen, reacts with nitrous acid contained in indoor air and toxic substances from cigarettes, such as clothes, toys, furniture, etc. One of the TSNAs, NNK, causes cancer.

The study was conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States.

The ‘New York Post’ introduced a shocking study that third-hand smoke can also cause cancer.

Tobacco-specific nitrosamines generated indoors enter the body by touching something or inhaling dust in the air. One route of exposure to tobacco-specific nitrosamines is sleeping on a bed linen stained with tobacco toxic substances.

“Smoking releases large amounts of nicotine and covers all indoor surfaces, including human skin,” said one researcher who participated in this study. We found that the yield of tobacco-specific nitrosamines was higher.”

The research team noted that NNK, one of the tobacco-specific nitrosamines, caused cancer in an experiment on mice. “As a result of analyzing the metabolites of rat urine, both nicotine and NNK were found to accumulate and circulate in the body when they come into direct contact with the skin, suggesting that they may have adverse effects on humans.”

Co-author Neil Benowitz, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, said: “These findings demonstrate the potential health effects of secondhand smoke.