If you are a regular smoker, your kids may be carrying significant levels of nicotine on their hands just by coming in contact with items or surfaces contaminated with tobacco residues, a new study has warned. Children were tested during emergency room visits for illnesses possibly related to secondhand smoke exposure such as difficulty in breathing. The average child age was five and all of the children were at risk of varying degrees of second-hand smoke exposure, as all of their parents were smokers. All of the children had detectable nicotine levels on their hands and all but one had detectable cotinine in saliva. They found that the presence of significant nicotine on the hands of children was linked to equally significant levels of the harmful tobacco metabolite cotinine in their saliva.

Source: India Today April 09, 2017 08:26 UTC