Third-hand smoke and what that means for the oil industry

Let me start by saying that I am currently a smoker. It's a dirty habit that I don't particularly enjoy wasting money on but it's also an addiction and just quitting isn't that easy.

My first reaction to the announcement that "third hand smoke" is now a scientifically-proven and accepted fact was "Good Gods, leave the smokers alone already!" but then it got me thinking...

The article claims "When you smoke – anyplace – toxic particulate matter from tobacco smoke gets into your hair and clothing," says lead study author, Jonathan Winickoff, MD, MPH, assistant director of the MGHfC Center for Child and Adolescent Health Policy. "When you come into contact with your baby, even if you're not smoking at the time, she comes in contact with those toxins. And if you breastfeed, the toxins will transfer to your baby in your breastmilk." Winickoff notes that nursing a baby if you're a smoker is still preferable to bottle-feeding, however."

If this is true, would it not also be true of vehicle exhaust smoke?

Sherwood Park, Alberta is home to many oil refineries and upgraders that produce a tremendous amount of contaminates into the local air. Not surprisingly, it is also the asthma and respiratory disease capital of Canada.

For years, cigarette manufacturers denied any ill affects their product had on consumers and eventually lost numerous lawsuits because of the ways they attempted to mislead the people.

I submit that if 3rd hand smoke from tobacco is a danger to society, it cannot be much worse than 3rd hand vehicle exhaust fumes as well as oil and gasoline production and it is also far more likely that members of society would develop adverse health conditions resulting from 3rd hand exhaust fumes than from tobacco smoke.

It would also seem like more proof the people of Fort Chipewyan need to make the Federal and Provincial governments take notice of their alarming cancer rates.