Third Hand Smoke–How Much Do I Worry About This One?

Before I went back to work, we knew we would have to buy another car for my husband. Believe it or not, he had been living in Los Angeles with only a bicycle and public transportation for a year. We were sort of proud of that, but having to do daycare drop offs and pick ups put an end to our environmental living.

My husband freelances, and I was going back to work at the beginning of September after maternity leave. The plan was that he would watch the baby for three weeks while he was out of work. But to our surprise, he got a job completely last minute, and we both had to go to work at the same time. This meant we had to buy our car really, really fast.

With no time to peruse ads and make the rounds to dealerships, we went to the place where I bought my first used car in LA. I’m not sure why I went back there, since I wasn’t really happy with the car I got. But I guess I just knew where this place was and I knew we could get a car there fast. We found a Honda with low miles and got a fairly good deal, after a round of theatrics and fake cell phone calls by our cheesified dealers. The classic line:

“Let me get my manager. I’ve only been here for six months. He’s been here for ten years. He can make a deal.”

Apparently we were supposed to be excited about the idea of a super experienced used car salesman. Then the manager showed up. He looked like Dracula. We were scared.

We had thought going in there with a baby would somehow give us an advantage, but at that point, three-month-old Zack began to cry and spit up on the floor. (He was prone to reflux deluxe back in those days.) And we wanted out. We bought our car after talking down the interest rate and even getting a little off on the price. Yes, we could have done better, but the dealers wore us out. It’s what they’re great at. And were seriously covered in spit up. (Life was all about spit up in those days.)

Then we left, and we were happy with the car. Drove great. Nice color. Life was good. Until a few days later, when whatever our cheesified dealers had sprayed in the car wore off, and we realized that the entire interior was heavily saturated with cigarette smoke.

For us alone, this would have been just an inconvenience. But we bought this car in order to transport our infant son to daycare. Okay, so he really only spends 15 minutes a day in there, but this is also our family car, and we do our shopping and errands and take trips to visit my folks in it. So he does a little more time on some weekends. And every time I’m in the car, I can’t stop thinking that somehow the smell of the lingering smoke is not only disgusting but possibly unhealthy.

And then this lovely article came out in the New York Times. The story reports on a study done on third hand smoke. Yep, third hand smoke is what they’re calling the stench that remains in enclosed spaces. And yep, it could be dangerous. Okay, could be. And do people know about this? That seems to be exactly what the study asks.

The study reported on attitudes toward smoking in 1,500 households across the United States. It found that the vast majority of both smokers and nonsmokers were aware that second-hand smoke is harmful to children. Some 95 percent of nonsmokers and 84 percent of smokers agreed with the statement that “inhaling smoke from a parent’s cigarette can harm the health of infants and children.”

But far fewer of those surveyed were aware of the risks of third-hand smoke. Since the term is so new, the researchers asked people if they agreed with the statement that “breathing air in a room today where people smoked yesterday can harm the health of infants and children.” Only 65 percent of nonsmokers and 43 percent of smokers agreed with that statement, which researchers interpreted as acknowledgement of the risks of third-hand smoke.

But the study, from what I can see in this article, doesn’t prove that it’s dangerous. Or that it isn’t. Or how long the danger lasts after the last cigarette is smoked in a room. This study asks whether people know that there is a danger. But…is there?

The article in the NY Times lists many of the toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke, and it emphasizes that many of them are carcinogenic. Whenever I hear the word toxic now, I know to be slightly more skeptical than I would have been in the past. Now I know that almost anything in a great enough quantity can be toxic, and I know that toxins in small quantities aren’t really that bad. I know this because I listen to Skeptics Guide to the Universe and I’ve heard Steven Novella say it. And I trust that guy.

But we’re talking about known toxic substances here. And they’re stuck in the ceiling upholstery of our car. There’s no denying that on a hot day, the car smells like an ashtray when you open the door. And the cruel joke of it is that somehow a rainy, cold day has the same effect.

A couple months after we bought the car, our cheesy dealer called just to see if we were happy, because he was moving on to another dealership and wanted referrals. I had to be honest with him and tell him that I was very unhappy, because I couldn’t believe he had sold a smoker’s car to a couple with a young baby. He chuckled his way out of the confrontation.

So I have this to say to all of you here on the internet: do not buy a car from a guy named E—- S—-.

(I actually did put his real name and even posted it for 20 whole minutes, but then I had to get out of bed and erase it. I just can’t lose anyone business in this economy. It’s too mean. And as far as I know, it’s not like the guy did anything illegal. I mean, being a cheeseball is still within the law, right?)

In my mad Googling to see whether the smoke smell in my car was slowly killing us all, I came across an abstract of a study that measured nicotine pollution in cars. So okay, there’s nicotine pollution. But how bad is that? How long does the harmful effect last? The most useful thing I found in this abstract was this sentence:

Disclosure requirements and smoke-free certifications could help protect nonsmoking buyers of used cars.

I’m not sure if we are being protected from actual harm, but I am completely in favor of a smoke-free certification if it protects me from the pain in the ass factor of having a smoke smelly car.

I also discovered that California has a “Smoke-free Cars With Minors” law, which says that you cannot smoke with kids in the car. If you do, and you’re caught, you can be fined $100. I can’t imagine this law will keep anyone from smoking in a car. If you’re paying for cigarettes every week, I doubt a $100 fine will stop you from smoking wherever you want. But maybe I’m wrong. I don’t smoke, so I couldn’t say. The law also brings up all kinds of issues about personal freedom and just how much government should be interfering in people’s lives.

But a law requiring a dealer to tell me about a smoky car seems fair to me. It just requires a seller to be honest. And it lets the buyer make an informed decision. And okay, it probably lowers the resale value of the car, so somebody loses, but since it’s not me, I’m still thinking it’s a great idea.

As it is, we’d lose too much money if we returned it to the dealer. So it’s an ongoing discussion. My husband drives the car most of the time, and whenever I’m in it, I get antsy and irritated and say stuff like, “I cannot believe how long this smell has lasted. It must be bad for Zack.”

And my husband says it just can’t be that bad. And then I remember that I grew up riding around in cars with my parents, who smoked (until they quit when I was maybe six), and my grandparents, who smoked, and well, I’m fine. I came out of that okay.

And we’re not even talking about smoking. This is old smoke.

Anyway, we’re going to try to clean the car before we give up and trade it. Any advice appreciated.