Brain

Thirdhand smoke is a neurotoxin. Children who are exposed to second and third hand smoke at home have a 50% higher risk of neurological disorders. A recent study found a significant inverse relationship between cotinine blood levels and math, cognitive reasoning, reading, and language development in young children. It is estimated that over 20 million children are at risk for thirdhand smoke related reading deficiencies in the United States.

de Zeeuw, P., Zwart, F., Schrama, R., van Engeland, H., & Durston, S. (2012). Prenatal exposure to cigarette smoke or alcohol and cerebellum volume in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and typical development. Translational Psychiatry, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2012.12

Kabir, Z., Connolly, G. N., & Alpert, H. R. (2011). Secondhand smoke exposure and neurobehavioral disorders among children in the United States. Pediatrics, 128(2), 263–270. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-0023

Yolton, K., Dietrich, K., Auinger, P., Lanphear, B. P., & Hornung, R. (2005). Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and cognitive abilities among U.S. children and adolescents. Environmental Health Perspectives, 113(5). https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.113-a296a

Martins-Green, M., Adhami, N., Frankos, M., Valdez, M., Goodwin, B., Lyubovitsky, J., Dhall, S., Garcia, M., Egiebor, I., Martinez, B., Green, H. W., Havel, C., Yu, L., Liles, S., Matt, G., Destaillats, H., Sleiman, M., Gundel, L. A., Benowitz, N., … Curras-Collazo, M. (2014). Cigarette smoke toxins deposited on surfaces: Implications for human health. PLoS ONE, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086391