Sunday 27 February 2011

ASH Scotland opens page on research into third-hand smoke

Thanks to auntieban (commenting on the previous post) I visited ASH Scotland's page on 'latest research on second-hand smoke'. It's now entitled:


Third-hand smoke was discovered in a telephone poll and has already become a tool for further denormalising smokers. Just one of the titles featured on this page of 'research', 'when smokers move out and non-smokers move in' (Matt, Quintana et al., Tobacco Control, 2010), is enough to make the skin crawl, especially to any smoker seeking to rent living space, and especially on the other side of the Atlantic.

I am reminded of the famous raid on Tommy Sheridan's home, when the police accused his wife of the theft of whisky miniatures. The police saw the miniatures during their lengthy raid on the Sheridans' property and thought they would charge her with stealing them. She was suspended by her employer British Airways before BA checked its own records and discovered that the miniatures had not been stolen. But by that time Gail Sheridan's name had been dragged into the mud. No issue, no evidence, no crime, but ill will and gullibility lead to a sordid outcome.

The genesis of the third-hand smoke phenomenon is described by Chris Snowdon here: an intriguing story of researchers manipulating the evidence: 
Having come up empty-handed using a real-life smoking environment, the researchers had resorted to using nicotine vapour on cellulose substrates in an experiment that could not be replicated outside of a laboratory. Even then, they had not found NNN in any of the experiments and the only TSNA to appear in any quantity was NNA. This posed a problem because NNA doesn’t actually cause cancer, as the authors admit: “NNA carcinogenicity has not been reported.”
 In a nutshell, people are making a fuss about something because there is a market for fuss, and a market means money. There's money in making a fuss about nothing. This is what makes ASH Scotland so powerful.

12 comments:

Belinda said...

Thanks to Dave Atherton for the following response to Matt et al.'s BMJ article, from Simon Chapman, a leading Australian tobacco control advocate: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/20/1/e1.short/reply#tobaccocontrol_el_3539. Concludes:

It is important that research documents residuals from tobacco smoke. But it is equally important that consumers and policy makers are not led to believe that the chemical compounds thus located are somehow unique to tobacco smoke. Unless in the extremely unlikely event that residents burn copious quantities of solanaceous vegetables (aubergine, tomato) which contain small amounts of nicotine, tobacco is going to be the only source of nicotine in homes. But it will not by any means be the only source of many of the ingredients of "third hand smoke" that the unwitting or the fumophobic may believe are attributable only to smoking. The omission of this information in such reports risks harming the credibility of tobacco control.

Hope you are reading this, Sheila Duffy et al.

Magnetic said...

The origin of “smoke residuals”. The term is used by Kimball Physics (New Hampshire, USA) in its tobacco policy (see below). Of interest is that this policy has been in place since 1993, many years before the concept entered the Public Health literature. It has/had no coherent basis. Kimball Physics is an antismoking bigotry enclave. The health effects or “symptoms” spoken of are typical anxiety or somatization symptoms: They are psychogenic (psychologically produced).

Magnetic said...

Dr. Chuck Crawford (Kimball Physics Vice President) :
We would not allow a tobacco user to come into our house. My wife would have my head if I did.
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zlp47d00/pdf

Dr. Chuck Crawford, president of Kimble physics, spoke in opposition to SB 171 noting that people are allergic to both second hand and time-delayed smoke and that allergic reactions can occur in time-delayed smoke situations and therefore a businesses decision to discriminate on the basis of smoking is justified.
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/pbb71d00/pdf

Kimball Physics, Inc., a manufacturer of scientific apparatuses based in Wilton, N.H., actually signs a contract with each of its approximately 45 non-smoking employees, guaranteeing that it will not hire tobacco users. Chuck Crawford, physicist and president of the firm, says the policy is designed primarily to protect workers' health, and has attracted job applicants who are allergic to tobacco smoke.
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/jsi24b00/pdf

Kimball Physics, a maker of electron and ion optics, forbids smoking on company grounds, and no one is allowed inside the building who smells of smoke.
"If someone has a wool suit and walks through a bar, they don't
wear that suit into the office," says Chuck Crawford, president of the
Wilton, N,H-based firm. "It's a very strong policy and a selling point for the company."
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/aos17a00/pdf

Chuck Crawford (Kimball Physics), 2007 American Lung Association/C. Everett Koop “Unsung Hero” Award Recipient

Dr. Crawford is tireless in his efforts to make tobacco control everyone's goal. He shares the policy's successes and merits with partners and vendors in hopes of encouraging more businesses to follow in Kimball Physics' footsteps.

The mentally dysfunctional now receive awards for torturing society with their dysfunction masqueraded as “health promotion”. Courtesy of C. Everett Kook, a rabid antismoker, and the dismembered-body-organ group, a Rockefeller concoction, the ALA.

http://www.lungusa.org/get-involved/volunteer/volunteer-of-the-week/chuck-crawford.html


Chuck Crawford, a member of the Board of Trustees, Action on Smoking and Health.

http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=59768466

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your request dated 13 December 2010 for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 for the following information from 2005 until 2009

a) All information on the actual number of adult smokers in Scotland for the years 2005 -2009 and the source of the information, each years total to be shown.

b) All information on the smoking cessation rates in Scotland for the years 2005-2009 and the source of the information, each years total to be shown.

c) All information on how the smoking cessation rates were calculated.
d) All information on actual deaths in Scotland attributable to Second Hand Smoke otherwise known as “Passive Smoking” , "Sidestream Smoke" or “Environmental Tobacco Smoke” from the years 2000 - 2009

e) All information held on “Third Hand Smoke”.

We have reviewed all the relevant files and now enclose the information you have requested. Information for (a) - (d) is attached above N.B smoking cessation quit attempts, quit numbers and rates in Scotland for the years 2006-2009 as this is the only available data. We hold no information about actual deaths due to passive smoking. It is not possible to give precise figures on deaths resulting from tobacco use. However, it is estimated that each year more than 13,000 people in Scotland die from smoking-related diseases, including lung cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke. (figures taken from The UK Smoking Epidemic; deaths in 1995, produced by the London : Health Education Authority in 1998) . The numbers of deaths attributed to passive smoking are primarily estimated from studies comparing the rates of deaths due to smoking attributable diseases among similar people who have not had such exposure. A link to the most recent study commissioned on behalf of the Scottish Government is attached http://www.healthscotland.com/documents/448.aspx

Please note after reviewing our records we hold no information in connection with (e) of your request.

If you are unhappy with this response to your request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review, by writing to Derek Feeley, Acting Director General Health and Chief Executive, NHSScotland, St Andrew’s House, Regent Road, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG. Your request should explain why you wish a review to be carried out, and should be made within 40 working days of receipt of this letter, and we will reply within 20 working days of receipt. If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to make a formal complaint to the Scottish Information Commissioner.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. Most documents supplied by the Scottish Government will have been produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using Crown Copyright material on the OPSI website. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/index.htm Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non crown Copyright) information.

I hope you will find the information provided helpful.

Yours sincerely



Mary Cuthbert
Head of Tobacco, Sexual Health and HIV Policy

Anonymous said...

Environmental Tobacco Smoke, also known as Second Hand Smoke or Passive Smoking.

THE REAL TRUTH, NOT THE ASH VERSION.

13Pages.

http://www.virginiasmokersalliance.com/science_of_ets.htm

Anonymous said...

Environmental Tobacco Smoke, also known as Second Hand Smoke or Passive Smoking.

THE REAL TRUTH, NOT THE ASH VERSION.

13Pages.

http://www.virginiasmokersalliance.com/science_of_ets.htm

Anonymous said...

A common statement made by ASH Scotland is " There is no safe level of Second Hand Smoke".

RIDICULOUS.

This HSE document defines safe levels for every chemical.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/table1.pdf

Magnetic said...

Many companies that have adjusted their no-smoker policies have done so only grudgingly. Chuck Crawford, president of Kimball Physics Inc., a Wilton, N.H., electronic-optics company, defiantly tightened his company's antismoking rules when the state made smoking a civil right in 199L He believes the state's law contradicts federal health regulations and should be thrown out. Mr. Crawford says he opposes corporate intrusion into employees' lives. But he worries that residue from smokers' clothes and from their breath could contaminate rooms at the company that must be kept clean for the manufacturing of electronic optics. In addition, some employees are allergic to smoke. "We can smell a smoker, typically, at a distance of a couple of feet," Mr. Crawford says. "In point of fact, they stink."
Kimball Physics no longer asks potential employees whether they smoke. But it has started telling them that they can't smoke on company grounds, even in the parking lot inside their own car. The smell of smoke would linger on the workers* clothes, Mr. Crawford explains.
Employees who are exposed to smoke at home must wash up in company showers and put on clean clothes when they arrive at work.
Mr. Crawford, who once paid an employee $3,000 to stop smoking, says he doesn't know of any current workers who smoke. I would spend every cent this company has to attack that industry if I thought it would do any good," he says. "We will fight to the death on this."
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/xxw06b00/pdf

Magnetic said...

KIMBALL PHYSICS Tobacco Policy:
BACKGROUND: What are tobacco residuals? Why do they matter?
Tobacco combustion products do not suddenly disappear when a cigarette goes out. The chemical vapors and microscopic airborne particulates slowly dissipate, mostly by being blown away. However, fractions of these materials are trapped in a smoker's clothing, hair, lungs, etc., as well as on furniture, auto upholstery, and similar surfaces. Some of the vapors and particulates are then re-emitted over a period of hours (sometimes much longer). These re-emitted materials, plus any remaining not-yet-dissipated original smoke, are called tobacco residuals.
The chemical composition of tobacco residuals is related to that of the original tobacco smoke, but at an intensity which is considerably reduced. Unfortunately, when a smoker (no longer smoking) moves to a new location, the tobacco residuals he emits are often of sufficient intensity to cause both health problems and annoyance to individuals at the new location......

http://www.kimballphysics.com/about_KPI/visits.htm

Magnetic said...

KIMBALL PHYSICS Tobacco Policy:

http://www.kimballphysics.com/about_KPI/visits.htm

Magnetic said...

THE CASE OF THE SNIFFING RECEPTIONIST
Imagine you walk into the reception area of a building .
The receptionist stands up and begins to sniff you up and down . Where are you?
A lunatic asylum? A vetrinary clinic? Dreaming? Some combination of the above?
Actually you might be at Kimball Physics, an electronics manufacturer in Wilton, New Hampshire, where smokers are so un-welcome they are sniffed out at the gate .
Receptionist Jennifer Walsh of Kimball is charged with applying the sniff test on all employees and visitors to the company . If she catches even a whiff of tobacco smoke on your breath, hair or clothing, she will deny you entrance to the company's offices .
Company president Chuck Crawford defended the policy to the Associated Press, insisting that "people can be made ill by amounts of tobacco residues that are below the level of sensitivity the nose can detect ."
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/caz37d00/pdf

Magnetic said...

Re: Kimball Physics

THE CASE OF THE SNIFFING RECEPTIONIST

http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/caz37d00/pdf