Health Risks of Secondhand and Thirdhand Smoke

Dear Colleagues,

Exposure to secondhand and thirdhand smoke (SHS and THS, respectively) remains widespread in many countries and affects a large population of adult and young non-smokers. Based on the U.S. Surgeon General, there is no risk-free level of SHS exposure. SHS exposure has well been documented as a risk factor for many human diseases. THS, a newly emerged smoke hazard, is defined by “the four Rs”: tobacco chemicals that remain, react, re-emit, and/or resuspended long after active smoking has ceased. Recently, its health impact has been increasingly recognized. The concept of THS as a distinct entity that poses health risks for small children has developed. We first reported that THS exposure caused significant DNA damage in human cells, and further demonstrated that early exposure to THS not only affects development, but also induces persistent changes to the immune system and lung cancer in mouse models. An increasing number of studies from many other groups have been reported using cellular and animal models as well as human subjects, which began to fill the knowledge gap in our understanding of the health risks of THS.

As found above, passive cigarette smoking causes complex biological and health responses and the mechanisms underlying them are not fully elucidated. Therefore, future in vitro and in vivo studies are needed to better understand their effects on biological systems. We believe that efforts should be made to identify and characterize novel chemical compounds in aged SHS and THS; the identification and measurement of biomarkers for SHS and/or THS exposure is also a key research area. We propose that an integrative systems biology approach will provide a comprehensive evaluation of the health effects of smoking exposure. As direct human studies linking THS to human risks and diseases are virtually impossible, model systems may serve as valuable tools. Etiological factors and genomic properties of lung cancer in never smokers is another intriguing area. It is also interesting to see what would be the potential impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic would be on SHS/THS exposure and related health issues. Ultimately, accumulating data from existing and future studies will help reduce the tobacco-related disease incidence through changes in lifestyle and tobacco control policies.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present new research articles, reviews and perspectives on the health risks of SHS and THS, with focuses on basic pathological and mechanistic findings, identification and development of exposure biomarkers, and translational studies involving   implementation of monitoring and preventive measures for such risks.

Dr. Bo Hang
Dr. Jian-Hua Mao
Guest Editors

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• Secondhand smoke exposure
• Environmental smoke exposure
• Thirdhand smoke exposure
• Environmental toxicology
• Health risk assessment
• Cancer development
• Genetic susceptibility
• Children susceptibility
• Risk in never-smokers
• Biomarker development
• Translational study
• Tobacco control policy