雙語閱讀：研究發現“三手煙”也很危險

You can tell the dude sitting next to you in the movie theater is a smoker or vaper; you can smell it on his clothes. But since he's not lighting up and puffing smoke your way, it's OK, right?

你可以辨別出電影院裡坐在你旁邊的人吸不吸菸，你可以從他的衣服上聞到煙味。但只要他不點燃香菸並向着你吞雲吐霧，就不會危害你的健康，對嗎？

Not at all.

完全不對。

A new study out of Yale University says thirdhand smoke -- the tobacco contaminants that adhere to walls, bedding, carpet and other surfaces until a room smells like an ashtray -- can actually cling to a smoker's body and clothes as well.

耶魯大學的一項新研究指出，三手煙，即吸附在牆壁、牀單被褥、地毯和其他表面的菸草污染物，讓房間聞起來像菸灰缸，事實上也會附着在吸菸者的身體和衣服上。

Those potentially toxic chemicals, including nicotine, can then be released into environments where smoking has never occurred, like your movie theater, according to the study.

研究發現，（吸附在吸菸者身上的）包括尼古丁在內的這些潛在的有毒化學物質之後會被釋放到沒人吸過煙的環境中，比如電影院。

Even more disturbing: The study found those chemical exposure levels could be the equivalent of between one and 10 cigarettes by the end of the movie.

更讓人困擾的是：研究發現，看完一場電影，暴露在這些化學物質中所受的危害相當於吸了1到10根菸。

"People are substantial carriers of thirdhand smoke contaminants to other environments," said study author Drew Gentner, an associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering at Yale.

研究報告的作者、耶魯大學化學與環境工程學副教授德魯·金特納說：“人們是將三手煙污染物攜帶到其他環境的重要載體。”

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, may be the first to show that people can transmit nicotine and other potentially toxic chemicals via their clothing after smoking, he said.

他說，這項發表在《科學進展》期刊上的研究可能是第一個表明人們吸菸後可以通過衣服來傳播尼古丁和其他潛在有毒化學物質的研究。

"That was the unique part of this study," Gentner continued. "We were surprised by the wide array of hazardous volatile organic compounds that were off-gassing from the audience -- including some that are known to be carcinogens in people, such as benzene and formaldehyde."

金特納繼續說道：“這是本研究的一個獨特之處。觀衆身上散發出的揮發性有害有機化合物——包括苯和甲醛等已知致癌物——種類之多讓我們感到驚訝。”

什麼是“三手煙”？

Thirdhand "smoke" isn't actually smoke at all. It's the residue of nicotine and other chemicals in tobacco, some of which are toxic, that remain long after active smoking is over.

三手煙其實根本不是煙。它是香菸中的尼古丁和其他化學物質的殘留，其中一些化學物質是有毒的，在吸完煙很久後還能留存。

Some of these chemicals stick to surfaces, and others attach to dust particles. Still others often penetrate deep into wallboard, drapes and upholstery. As the compounds linger, they may react with oxidants or other particles in the room's atmosphere. The chemical reactions can create potentially harmful byproducts that can become airborne.

有些化學物質會附着在表面上，其他一些則會附着在粉塵上。還有一些化學物質經常會滲入牆板、窗簾和傢俱裝飾品。在化合物停留期間，它們可能會和室內空氣中的氧化物或其他顆粒發生化學反應。這些化學反應會產生有潛在危害的副產物，並通過空氣傳播。

Science has known about this type of environmental pollution for years, sparking the creation of smoking and non-smoking rooms at hotels, restaurants and the like.

這種環境污染早在多年前就已被科學家知曉，並催生出酒店、餐廳等場所的吸菸室和無煙室。

But thirdhand smoke has also been found in environments which were not known to be contaminated by smokers, which led researchers to ask how that could happen.

但是在未被吸菸者污染過的環境中也發現了三手煙，這讓研究人員發問：這是怎麼發生的？

To find out, Gentner and some of his PhD students set up an experiment in a movie theater that had not allowed smoking for more than 15 years. They supplied fresh air into the theater, making sure that no smoking or other contaminants entered the space.

爲了找尋答案，金特納和他的一些博士生在一家禁菸超過15年的電影院開展了一個實驗。他們給影院輸入新鮮空氣，確保煙霧和其他污染物不進入這一空間。

Sophisticated equipment measured airborne particles before and after moviegoers arrived. Right away, they saw a huge spike in levels of hazardous chemicals.

在觀衆到達影院前後，他們用精密的儀器測量了空氣中的顆粒物。很快，他們就看見有害化學物質的水平大幅上升。

As people came into the theater, the concentrations went up, and then decreased over time, Gentner said.

金特納說，隨着人們進入影院，有害化學物質的濃度上升了，但隨着時間過去又下降了。

"But they didn't completely disappear after the audience left," he added. "In many cases, the persistent contamination was observable the following day in the unoccupied theater."

“但是這些有害化學物質沒有在觀衆離去後完全消失，”他補充道，“很多情況下，在影院無人時，第二天依然可以觀察到持續的污染。”

The testing continued over a four-day period across different movie genres. Perhaps not surprisingly, levels of nicotine and other chemicals were lower in the G-rated movies geared toward kids.

接下來，研究人員在四天時間內針對不同的影片類型繼續進行測試。結果發現，尼古丁和其他化學物質的水平在播放面向兒童的G級電影時更低，這也許並不令人意外。

"Despite cases where we had audiences of over 200 people for some of the G-rated movies, the pollutants were much larger for R-rated films, even with smaller audiences," Gentner said. "Those movies would likely draw older audiences that might be more likely to smoke."

“部分G級電影有超過200人觀看，但播放R級電影時，即使觀衆人數較少，產生的污染物水平也要高得多，”金特納說，“R級電影更可能吸引年紀較大的觀衆，這些人更可能吸菸。”

Despite declines in smoking in some developed nations, there are still over a billion smokers worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

世界衛生組織稱，儘管一些發達國家的吸菸率降低了，但世界範圍內還有超10億名吸菸者。

"That billion smokers contribute to about 880,000 deaths from secondhand smoke," said Dr. Jagat Narula, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Morningside in New York City who researches the health impact of smoking. "I call it a form of murder."

紐約市西奈山晨邊醫院的心臟病科醫師雅佳特·納如拉說：“這10億吸菸者導致約88萬人死於二手菸。我把這種行爲稱爲謀殺的一種。”納如拉醫生研究吸菸對健康的影響。

Learning about the Yale study's findings on the level of off-gassing from human bodies and clothing was not surprising, said Narula, who was not involved in the study.

在瞭解耶魯大學對於人體和衣服散發三手煙的發現後，沒有參與該研究的納如拉表示並不驚訝。

"But it is disturbing," he said. "Numerous reports have shown that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

“但是這讓人感到不安，”他說，“許多報告顯示無論吸入的二手菸量有多小，都是不安全的。”

"If future research replicates these findings on thirdhand smoke, it means that smokers could potentially still do harm even if the act of smoking took place in a different space."

“如果未來的研究證實了關於三手煙的這一發現，這意味着即使吸菸者在另一個空間吸菸，也會對他人造成潛在危害。”