What The Researcher Didn'T Say About Third Hand Smoke

Many of you are no doubt aware of the third hand smoke reports that have been making the rounds lately, and it is a sad testament to our current situation that such a ridiculous notion can get any media coverage let alone be bandied around as fact.

There are, as ever, numerous problems with the third hand smoke report. The NY Times reported the story [1], as did the Telegraph and now various others. The first problem is that no study was carried out - a phone survey was done asking if people thought third hand smoke was a health hazard - and used the results to determine that it is. It does not matter one iota to the 'researchers' that they have no evidence whatsoever - no study, no scientific material, nothing to back up their claim that third hand smoke is dangerous. Lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Winickoff stated "Your nose isn�t lying," he said. "The stuff is so toxic that your brain is telling you: �Get away.�" How ridiculous can it get? This is akin to sayin g that when you smell foods your brain is saying they are toxic and to refrain from ingesting it.

Unlike other reports debunking the third hand smoke scare tactic, which are in abundance across the internet, I am going to delve into Dr. Winickoff's past to expose his agenda and why we cannot trust a word he says. According to Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center [2] Dr. Winickoff currently chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics Tobacco Consortium, with 15 peer-reviewed publications regarding tobacco control in child healthcare settings. He is the Harvard site PI for the Julius Richmond Center of Excellence, Addressing the Secondhand smoke Exposure of Children, and has drafted key tobacco control policy for the AMA, AAP, and the APA. He serves as scientific advisor to the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program, and has developed a program called CEASE: the Clinical Effort Against Secondhand Smoke Exposure.

Note how this all centres on 'tobacco control' r ather than tobacco analysis. Clearly then, not a man we can trust and not a man with an objective outlook on study.

Having read the NY Times article I decided to dig around for Dr. Winickoff's contact details and get in touch with some questions. In my first email I wrote:

"[C]an you please tell me how you gathered the information that tobacco smoke was still harmful the next day? The article makes no mention of any experiment conducted to monitor air levels, nor is there any epidemiological evidence of illness from exposure to third hand smoke. In fact, as you admit yourself, third-hand smoke is a brand new term. I am curious to what research has been done to warrant a new term, and how we know the threat is real and not just an attempt of fear-mongering or, potentially, a way of legislating a ban outdoors."