Third Hand Smoke Research Paper

3rd Degree Murder Everyone knows what happens when you overfill a glass of water: it spills over. There is a fundamental economic principle called externality that is characterized by benefits or costs with unintended consequences. Externality, or spillover, has many real world examples that effect many people. One of these is third-hand smoke. Smokers have been overfilling their glasses for years know and the unintended consequence that costs lives is third-hand smoke. Spillover can have positive and negative consequences. Positive consequences, or positive externalities, happen when the benefits exceed the costs. Vaccinations happen to be a good example of a positive consequence. When someone gets a vaccine, they benefit themselves and …show more content…
Third-hand smoke is tobacco smoke that remains after the cigarette has been put out or has left the premise. Third-hand smoke is different from second-hand smoke as the third-hand smoke builds up over time and is unseen (Ballantyne). Unfortunately, scientists are unaware of how long these contaminants last. Because of this, everyone is at risk, and children are at a higher risk of being exposed at a dangerous level (Brink). Studies done on mice show that after being exposed to third-hand smoke, the internal organs of the mice, and in turn humans, had significant damage. When the data is taken into consideration in accordance with behavioral problems in children, there are some concerns about the risk of children who were exposed later developing “‘more severe neurological disorders’ (Fearnow).” To recap, externality is a benefit or cost that has unintended consequences. These consequences can be positive or negative, and affect the world around us. Third-hand smoke is a problem that affects everyone, and it’s not going away anytime soon. This over-filled glass of smoke may stick around just as long as the over-filled glass of