A Tobacco Control Policy & Legal Resource Center
Supporting Smokefree Air & Tobacco-Free Lives

Major third-hand smoke compound causes DNA damage — and potentially cancer (Science Codex)

Posted on

A March 2014 medical symposium discussed third-hand smoke health hazards, such as the creation of carcinogens indoors as the compounds in secondhand smoke can have harmful reactions with indoor pollutants. There is also evidence of at least one of the tobacco-specific nitrosamines, NNA, causing DNA damage by binding to it and causing genetic mutations. Children and babies are of greatest concern as they crawl and put items in their mouths which have been exposed to the thirdhand smoke compounds.