What you don't know can hurt you...

...Is it just me, or is "third-hand smoke" just really going too far? Tiny particulates that originate in the tobacco you puff-- outside, in your car, nowhere near your children-- can now kill them. These particulates are invisible, ineradicable, impossible to scrub, shampoo or launder away...

I cry "bullshit."

First of all, they claim these particulates are deadly, not in and of themselves, but because they bond with toxins already in our environment to form a cancerous soup. What aren't they telling us...?

They aren't telling us that these toxins already in our environment are a product of our culture, our society and our government's all-fired, full-force gambit to "keep us safe." These toxins are called VOCs. They exist as a product of "civilization" and they're already causing cancer, asthma-- in fact, a whole slew of autoimmune and respiratory diseases. They are in the paint we put in our walls-- they are in the walls themselves-- in the plastics, vinyls and adhesives as part of our dinnerware, furniture and television set. They are in the polyurethanes on our cabinetry, our floors, the trim on our walls. They are in our carpets, the padding under our carpet, the plywood under the padding under our carpet... They are in the laminate in our kitchens (and the adhesives under that, and the caulking...) and the foam in our mattresses. They are part of the "fire-retardant" additives embedded in our children's pajamas, our living room draperies, our sheets, our blankets, our teddy bears... Memory foam? VOCs... man, they make for a comfortable sleep. Think your down pillow is immune? Not so... even "natural" products are required by law to be treated by flame-retardant, the fabric covers permeated. Mildew resistant? Probably... those VOCs are everywhere, not just in the cleaners you use to burn that mildew out of your shower... And they're probably only one of the "environmental toxins" made more deadly.

Third hand smoke.

The invisible particulates from cigarette smoke bind to the toxins in our environment, not making them deadly, but making them more deadly.

Don't get me wrong. I think everyone should quit. I've done it... three, maybe four times. I plan to do it again, soon.

But I cry "bullshit" because when the article hits the mainstream public, the average Jane Grundy is going to jump on the bandwagon and call for more stringent laws against tobacco use, is going to demand more incentives to quit, is going to nag her poor sister to death daily, despising her, threatening to take her children away because she can't quit smoking because even her clothing is now deadly. She smokes outside. She never smokes in the car with her kids, or in her house. She would never dream of taking her children to a party where people will be puffing away indoors. But she's still killing her children...

Ms. Grundy will either ignore or completely overlook the environmental toxins that are already killing every man, woman and child in America. Because... well, it's easy to point the finger on the chimney outside the supermarket and scream, "SHUN HER!!!" but it's not so easy to accept that our lifestyles, no matter how "healthy" are killing us all.

Little by little, low-VOC paint and adhesives are making their way into the marketplace, but it isn't enough to just make them available. Public education is necessary to encourage people to buy them and to eschew the old ways. Government intervention is necessary, to end the poisoning of our children. BPA free plastics? Yes, we see them on the shelves. We wonder that that label should mean something to us. We see that it's a bit more expensive than the other stuff... we shrug and put it back, picking up those sippy cups that cost only $5 for 6, so we won't go bankrupt if junior throws one out the window...

No, far simpler to scream for the regulation of tobacco use. Smoke is what's killing us. After all, there's now something called "third-hand smoke." Hadn't you heard?