New research on Thirdhand Smoke

Over time, pollutants and odors from tobacco and pot smoke as well as pet odors, collect and concentrate on surfaces creating an unpleasant, potentially unsafe indoor air quality condition and could cause significant health risks. There is recent research from the National Institute of Health who found that these toxic brews, called ThirdHand Smoke, can then reemit back into the air and recombine to form harmful compounds that remain at high levels long after smoking has stopped occurring.

There are only 3 options:
1 – Ignore this serious problem
2 – Cover it up with standard paint, providing minimal benefit
3 – Apply a specialty environmental paint uniquely formulated to seal, block, absorb and capture existing odors, fumes and chemical pollutants and Thirdhand smoke

The American Association for the Advancement of Science reported that “Thirdhand Tobacco Smoke Lurks in Movie Theater Despite Regulations-A new study shows people can carry and transport thirdhand smoke to other locations. | Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science”

Concentrations of nicotine and smoking-related volatile organic compounds spiked when moviegoers entered a well-ventilated, non-smoking theater in Mainz, Germany, exposing them to the equivalent of between one and 10 cigarettes’ worth of secondhand smoke over one hour, according to a study published in the March 6 issue of Science Advances.

This “thirdhand” tobacco smoke residue carried on smokers’ clothing and bodies resulted in especially high concentrations of smoking-related volatile organic compounds like toxic benzene and formaldehyde during late-night and R-rated films, when attendance drops but the proportion of adults climbs.

The results of this first study demonstrating real-time thirdhand smoke emissions in an indoor nonsmoking environment may apply broadly to other indoor environments and suggest that current non-smoking regulations may not be enough to minimize the thirdhand cigarette smoke that nonsmokers breathe.

Science Advances Journal reported – “Human transport of thirdhand tobacco smoke: A prominent source of hazardous air pollutants into indoor nonsmoking environments.
The contamination of indoor nonsmoking environments with thirdhand smoke (THS) is an important, poorly understood public health concern. Real-time THS off-gassing from smokers into a nonsmoking movie theater was observed with online and offline high-resolution mass spectrometry. Prominent emission events of THS tracers (e.g., 2,5-dimethylfuran, 2-methylfuran, and acetonitrile) and other tobacco-related volatile organic compounds (VOCs) coincided with the arrival of certain moviegoers and left residual contamination. These VOC emission events exposed occupants to the equivalent of 1 to 10 cigarettes of secondhand smoke, including multiple hazardous air pollutants (e.g., benzene and formaldehyde) at parts-per-billion concentrations. Nicotine and related intermediate-volatility nitrogen-containing compounds, which vaporized from clothes/bodies and recondensed onto aerosol, comprised 34% of observed functionalized organic aerosol abundance. Exposure to THS VOC emission events will be considerably enhanced in poorly ventilated or smaller spaces in contrast with a large, well-ventilated theater—amplifying concentrations and potential impacts on health and indoor chemistry.”

Do you worry that smoke and odors from tobacco, pot, and pet odors, will collect on your walls to cause significant long-term health risks to your family?

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ECOBOND® OdorDefender® is a professional-grade Eco-friendly, odor-blocking paint designed for sealing, blocking & absorbing existing dangerous odors and fumes from the effects of cigarette smoke, pot smoke, fire, as well as pet odors and substantially improves indoor air quality.  Because odors are sealed and blocked, it gives the very best protection for your children & family!

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