With this daily health risk, I was happy to hear about the launch of TobacAlert, an easy-to-use test for second-hand smoke exposure that requires no special equipment or training and can be used for at home or at the workplace.

According to a newly published report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), despite public smoking bans, second-hand smoke exposure remains an important public health problem. Nearly half of nonsmoking Americans (46.4%) had detectable levels of cotinine, a biochemical marker of second-hand smoke exposure. Children aged 4-11 years had the highest percentage exposure (60.5%), even though only 10.2% of the households had self-reported second-hand smoke exposure at home. The CDC report noted that research has shown that the main source of second-hand smoke exposure for young children is from parental smoking in the home.

“Second-hand smoke is insidious and people may not be aware of the extent of their exposure. This study shows that even with the existing smoking laws in place, over 100 million nonsmokers in the U.S. have detectable exposure to second-hand smoke. Given that no safe level of second-hand smoke exposure has been established, this raises serious public health issues,” said Brian Doyle, Nymox’s Director of Business Development. “Of particular concern is the high percentage of children between the ages of 4 and 11 with detectable second-hand smoke exposure. Children are more vulnerable to the effects of second-hand smoke and parents may not be aware that their smoking habits or those of their visitors are unwittingly affecting their children.

“The wide disparity between the percentage of children detected with second-hand smoke exposure (60.5%) and the percentage of households self-reporting second-hand smoke at home (10.2%) illustrates the problem. Nymox’s TobacAlert product allows individuals a quick and convenient way to determine whether a person has a significant level of second-hand smoke exposure” said Mr. Doyle.

Nymox’s TobacAlert Urine product uses an easily obtained urine sample to provide an accurate visual read-out on a person’s tobacco use or exposure within minutes. TobacAlert measures levels of cotinine, a by-product of the break-down of nicotine in the human body that the Surgeon General’s Report on second-hand smoke described as “the biomarker of choice for assessing secondhand smoke exposure.” TobacAlert is intended for non-medical use only.

Nymox also offers NicAlert, which is its FDA cleared tobacco exposure test for medical uses. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) authored a study in the peer-review literature using NicAlert and found that NicAlert measurements correlated well with the far more complex laboratory testing (liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry) used in the CDC laboratory.

Second-hand smoke poses a serious and pervasive health risk to children and adults according to the comprehensive 2006 report from the U.S. Surgeon General, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke. The report highlighted how vulnerable children in particular are to second-hand smoke. Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, worsening of allergies and more severe asthma. The report also links second-hand smoke to coronary heart disease and lung cancer in adults and notes that even a brief exposure to second-hand smoke has immediate adverse effects on a person’s cardiovascular system.