January 7, 2009 5:10 AM

Anybody need any more evidence why smoking should be banned?

Parents who smoke often open a window or turn on a fan to clear the air of second-hand smoke, but experts now have identified another smoking-related threat to children's health that isn't as easy to get rid of: third-hand smoke. That's the term being used to describe the invisible yet toxic brew of gases and particles clinging to smokers' hair and clothing, not to mention cushions and carpeting, that lingers long after smoke has cleared from a room. The residue includes heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials that young children can get on their hands and ingest, especially if they're crawling or playing on the floor. Doctors from MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston coined the term "third-hand smoke" to describe these chemicals in a new study that focused on the risks they pose to infants and children. The study was published in this month's issue of the journal Pediatrics.

As if we needed any additional evidence of the health risks of cigarettes, finally we get what with any luck will be the final nail in the coffin of tobacco companies and those whose addiction they feed and nurture. It's one thing to not care about your own health and well-being. It's bad enough that second-hand smoke is a known and dangerous carcinogen. Now parents finally have to face the reality that their addiction may be killing those whose health and safety the claim to be devoted to- their children.

There's a point at which denial really is no longer an option, when you really must finally admit to the fact that your addiction is adversely impacting the health of your children. You wouldn't dream of serving them contaminated food or drink. You'd never drive them anywhere without being certain that they're properly buckled in. So why, then, would you knowingly and continually expose them to the toxic heavy metals and carcinogens that your cigarette smoke leaves behind? Or does your perceived "right" to feed your addiction trump even the health and well-being of your children?

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: your "right" to smoke ends when it adversely impacts my right (and the necessity) for me to breathe air unpolluted by your filthy habit. I have chosen not to smoke, and I refuse to be put into a situation where I'm force to smoke vicariously by inhaling your second-hand smoke. Now, this latest information erodes your "right" to smoke even further. If you can't see fit to protect your children from the toxic byproducts of your addiction, you're for all intents and purposes engaging in child abuse.

So...what's it going to be? You children? Or your addiction?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 7, 2009 5:10 AM.

The new coin of the realm was the previous entry in this blog.

And this is why I don't ski.... is the next entry in this blog.

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