http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3996062/ "Martha S. Jones has asthma, so whenever her husband, Bob, lights up at their Woodbridge home, the agreement is that he steps outside. "She used to think that protected her from exposure to the more than 4,000 chemical compounds found in cigarette smoke, 43 of which are known to cause cancer in humans or animals. Then she tried a new do-it-yourself urine test for detecting exposure to secondhand smoke, and her sense of security dissolved.
"The test rated her at 2 on a scale of 6 -- one notch below that of a regular smoker. Jones said she was shocked to register such a high level of passive smoke exposure, which she thinks came from nicotine residue in her husband's car and time spent with his smoking friends away from their house. Now she is working -- delicately -- to persuade her husband to quit, she said... "...The TobacAlerttest doesn't require expensive and time-consuming lab analysis, and results appear in about 15 minutes, Munzar said. The test strip is sensitive enough to detect only an hour of exposure to tobacco smoke in the previous three days... "...Secondhand smoke is well established by scientists as a cause of disease in nonsmokers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that secondhand smoke causes 3,000 adult nonsmokers to die of lung cancer each year, and some experts say many other deaths result from cardiovascular illnesses triggered or exacerbated by smoke exposure. The CDC says secondhand smoke causes coughing, phlegm, reduced lung function and reddened, itchy, watery eyes for countless people. "In children younger than 18 months, secondhand smoke causes 150,000 to 300,000 respiratory tract infections a year, the CDC estimates. Children frequently exposed to tobacco smoke suffer more respiratory problems and ear infections and are more likely to develop asthma, the agency said. About 60 percent of deaths from sudden infant death syndrome are attributable to exposure to parental tobacco smoke before or after birth, CDC said. "If you argue in court that secondhand smoke doesn't kill, they will laugh you out of court," said James L. Repace, a Beltsville-based air quality expert who has participated in dozens of battles nationwide over smoking restrictions. Repace said home tests could inspire more suits. "Once people find out they are exposed in such graphic terms, they get upset," he said..." This kit is much cheaper than the tests performed at medical laboratories, and the manufacterer "said TobacAlert compared favorably with lab tests in company studies, and they promised to share details in scientific meetings and journals" -- various other home test kits can be of high quality, like pregnancy tests, but certainly this one shouldn't be used in any legal proceeding until it is shown to be equally accurate. Debbi __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
