Call it the smoking compartment ’s smell . It ’s that puff of ashtray that ’s for good marinated into a smoker ’s couch cushions , car upholstery , clothing and hair . As if smoking car did n’t have enough reasons to quit ( or get enough sorrow for not quitting ) , the feel itself may be hazardous to their health as well as their loved ones .
The terminus " third - hand smoke " was coin in 2009 by aBoston pediatricianto describe the toxic tobacco residuum that remains on surface and plant in family fibre ( like carpet , couch , even clothes ) long after the coffin nail or cigar smoke has cleared . A small , but growing body of research has linked this nicotine residue tocarcinogenic compounds , peculiarly harmful to crawling babies and untested child , who spend a lot of time at home . One studyeven show that " nicotine dust " persisted in a home base at least six months after the smoker stop .
Third - deal weed is being set as the next openhanded cancer threat aftersecond - hand smoke . When the danger of used smoke were first made public in the mid-1980s , the revelation give acclivity to a horde of new state of matter and local laws about smoking in public place — like eating house and workplaces — and set off a whole new form of lawsuit .
In 1993 , a prisoner in Nevada litigate the Department of State for violating his Eighth Amendment protection against " roughshod and strange punishments " due to undue picture to secondhand grass from his fellow inmates . TheSupreme Court agreed .
In a course of study activity lawsuit from 1997 , C of non - smoking flight attendants action the tobacco diligence for decennium of inflight exposure to secondhand smoke . Their $ 300 million settlement was used to feel anon - net profit medical instituteto research the health effects of secondhand skunk ,
The interrogation is whether third - bridge player smoke will extend the legal liability of tobacco plant even further . Could a tenant with unseasoned children sue a landlord for not disclosing that a previous occupier was a smoker , claiming damage from third - hand smoke ? Will we see smoke - free workplaces like school and hospitals strain their policy to the article of clothing and hair of teachers and nurses ?
" I can see it , but maybe we ’re not there yet , " say Chris Banthin , senior staff lawyer with thePublic Health Advocacy Instituteat Northeastern University , a group that use the courts , among other method , to push for more smoke - free surroundings .
" There ’s so much science around the danger of secondhand smoke , " Banthin says . " When these case are bring , whether it ’s housing or work , that ’s sort of the initial natural focus . Third - hand smoke could be added on , but it ’s always lead to be the little sidekick of the secondhand hummer suit . "
There are , however , a few berth — like the landlord - tenant example above — where third - manus smoke might be able-bodied to brook on its own sound footing , once the scientific discipline connecting third - handwriting smoke and disease is stronger .
Banthin ’s confrere Mark Gottlieb , director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute , can imagine a twenty-four hours when landlords and householder are required to disclose the comportment of nicotine and other third - hand tobacco residue in home , just like live state laws about disclosing jumper cable pigment and formaldehyde .
" But it ’s indecipherable whether third - hand smoking will ever reach anywhere close to the types of wellness scathe cause by those other pith that require revealing , " says Gottlieb .
Even if third - script smoke does n’t prove as harmful as secondhand green goddess or lead photo , Gottlieb says that it could still form the basis of a fraud cause .
" If a landlord is deliberately deceiving a renter , saying that smoker never live in the unit , and deny the presence of third - hand smoke , that would be a situation that might be actionable , " Gottlieb pronounce . " That would be consumer pretender under Massachusetts jurisprudence . "
The scientific discipline of third - hand hummer is still vernal , and lawyers like Gottlieb , who have closely go after thehistory of tobacco judicial proceeding , say that it will require a watershed report — like C. Everett Koop ’s 1986surgeon general ’s reportor the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ’s 1990 story linking secondhand smoke to lung cancer — to raise public awareness about its true danger .
Already , the Thirdhand Smoke Research Consortium note on itswebsitethat its research helped to pass a 2014 bill in California prohibiting the smoking of baccy at all times in private residences licensed as sept nipper care homes , rather than just when child are present . It remains to be see whether more laws relate to this case get enacted .
As of now , neither Banthin or Gottlieb screw of any lawsuit involving third - hand smoke . We netmail James Repace , author of the landmark EPA study and a top expert witness in secondhand smoke cases . He say that he ’s also never been send for in to take the stand on a typesetter’s case where third - hand smoke is at matter .
