Ultra-passive smoking: homes where smokers have lived are also affected

UFC-Que Choisir has just published a study on indoor air contamination in homes.[1]This study was carried out in 900 dwellings of diverse profiles, located in distinct geographical areas, rural, urban.

To assess this indoor pollution, dust collected with vacuum cleaners was analyzed. This dust contains numerous toxic, carcinogenic, and even reprotoxic substances and endocrine disruptors. The risks are linked to the fact that we breathe these particles, that we touch them when they come into contact with the skin, or that they are ingested by young children who often put their hands in their mouths, as demonstrated by the study by Santé Publique France, published in September 2019. [2]When it comes to exposure to toxins produced by the consumption of smoked tobacco, we speak of ultra-passive smoking.

While everyone is affected by this indoor pollution, smokers' homes present a higher risk. They contain not only nicotine but also carcinogenic and even mutagenic substances, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals, including cadmium, which is particularly dangerous.

This indoor pollution, which causes ultra-passive smoking, is obviously particularly significant in smokers' homes. But it is also noticeable in homes occupied by non-smokers (1) who have received smokers, who have released into the home these toxic particles present on their clothing, skin and hair, when they entered the home and/or (2) who have left windows open through which passed the particles present in the smoke from the cigarettes of smokers smoking on the balconies.

In this period of confinement, quitting smoking is an emergency; it protects against active smoking, passive smoking and ultra-passive smoking.