Cigarettes Are Even Worse for Kids Than We Thought

And yet again experts have found that smoking cigarettes is bad for you and everyone around you. Researchers have identified a little known nicotine threat they're calling third-hand smoke: the toxins left behind in a smoker's hair, clothes, and environment long after they've put out their cigarette.

It's particularly important that smokers with kids know about this new threat, since common wisdom has long held that parents can smoke outside or in the car if their kids aren't around. It turns out that the carcinogenic residue left behind by cigarettes can be ingested by babies and children who have never been exposed to second-hand smoke.

Here are just a few of the toxins found in third-hand smoke: carbon monoxide, lead, and arsenic. Probably not stuff you'd like your kids to be ingesting.

Photo: ABC News