US scientists have published a new study which showcases the risks of “thirdhand” smoking, reports The Guardian.

The study which was published in the journal Science Advances shows that “thirdhand” smoke lingers on smokers’ clothes, skin and hair and can lead to contamination in smoke-free areas.
For the study, the team from Yale University measured the air quality in a German cinema by attaching a mass spectrometer to the exhaust air duct. The test was conducted over four days and 35 tobacco-related chemicals were found, including formaldehyde and the carcinogenic chemical benzene. Given that cinemas in Germany have been smoke-free for 15 years due to the smoking ban, the only way the contaminants could have entered the cinema was through the clothes and bodies of audience members.
W the cinema showed R-rated movies the “thirdhand” smoke compounds were up to 200 per cent higher than when it showed a G-rated family movie, according to Science magazine. The researchers of the study came to the conclusion that over the course of a typical R-rated movie the audience was exposed to the equivalent emissions of one to ten cigarettes of secondhand smoke.
According to the Guardian, Prof John Britton, director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies and consultant in respiratory medicine at Nottingham University, said the results were not surprising. “This study confirms what anyone with a sense of smell has already worked out: that smokers carry and emit tobacco smoke components into the atmosphere even when not smoking,” he said.