http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3996062/washingtonpost.com Highlights
New home test boosts anti-smoking case
Detector measures passive exposure
By Avram Goldstein
Updated: 12:19 a.m. ET Jan. 19, 2004
Martha S. Jones has asthma, so whenever her husband, Bob, lights up at their Woodbridge home, the agreement is that he steps outside.
She used to think that protected her from exposure to the more than 4,000 chemical compounds found in cigarette smoke, 43 of which are known to cause cancer in humans or animals. Then she tried a new do-it-yourself urine test for detecting exposure to secondhand smoke, and her sense of security dissolved. The test rated her at 2 on a scale of 6 -- one notch below that of a regular smoker. Jones said she was shocked to register such a high level of passive smoke exposure, which she thinks came from nicotine residue in her husband's car and time spent with his smoking friends away from their house. Now she is working -- delicately -- to persuade her husband to quit, she said.
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The manufacturer, Nymox Corp. of Maywood, N.J., says the $15 test can be used to measure the secondhand smoke exposure of employees in smoky workplaces and people who live with smokers. One expert says it could be used in child custody cases. Sneaking a smoke?
The company's medical director, Michael Munzar, says it can show whether teenagers have sneaked cigarettes, athletes have violated no-smoking policies or life insurance applicants have been truthful about qualifying for nonsmoker rates. Munzar said TobacAlert also can be used to monitor the progress of people trying to quit smoking and to encourage them. Deborah L. Marion of the Wellness Council of West Virginia uses a similar nicotine test available only to medical professionals as many as 40 times a day at health fairs -- to great effect. It's sobering, she said, for smokers to see a numerical value showing the exposure of a spouse or child.
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"This is really bad news for smokers," said Arthur Caplan, chairman of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania. The testing could be used to force employers to make workplaces safer, he said. "It's one thing to kvetch; it's another thing to bring in a number."John F. Banzhaf III, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health and a public interest law professor at George Washington University, sees advantages and disadvantages. "I see it as a major new weapon in the nonsmokers' rights movement -- particularly the movement to protect young children," he said.
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Visions of '1984'
TobacAlert, which Doyle said uses identical patented technology, is sold as a home test, with a disclaimer that it is for nonmedical use. It is being sold by Drugstore.com and CVS.com, and CVS is test-marketing it in six of its 4,100 stores. The product may be drawn into charged situations, such as custody disputes, said David L. Levy, president of the Children's Rights Council, a national group trying to protect children from custody battles. " '1984' is encroaching more and more," he said. "The philosophy seems to be that if you can do something, you must do it." John Crouch, an Arlington family lawyer and a recent chairman of the American Bar Association's child custody committee, said a growing number of judges are considering a child's exposure to secondhand smoke as a factor in custody decisions.
...snip
"We are moving to an age in which we're only going to determine truth through chemistry," Caplan said. "I suspect this continues our policy of, 'Don't believe what I say, believe what I excrete.' "
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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