Results tagged “mgh”
Just in case the economy, the wars in the Middle East, keeping your New Year's Resolutions, and ruining your brain by living in a city didn't give you enough to worry about, researchers have come up with another aggravation: third-hand smoke. No longer is it enough not to smoke around others, now you can't even exist around others (especially children) after you smoke, as poisonous particles (including "heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials" according to the NYT) that cling to your clothing will attack the lungs of babies and suffocate and kill them with your heinous nicotine addiction. Okay, maybe not kill, but certainly damage. Researchers from MGH recently published the results of the investigations into third-hand smoke, which seems to be most dangerous to youngsters. Smoke has lasting environmental effects, meaning that your carpet, curtains, couch, and other household items can become laden with dangerous, sometimes carcinogenic, particles that pose a health risk to others in the area. And if you work at a former Sterling Cooper, or in a smoked-out bar that only recently banned the substance, you could be at risk, too. The take-away message is one that we all pretty much knew already: "there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke," and a strict no-smoking policy indoors is the best policy for protecting those around you.
--Some of those who treated the Big Dig like one big, fat ATM are finally getting their just desserts. Yesterday, a Big Dig contractor was charged with trying to overcharge the government by $300,000. They've agreed to plead guilty. [Boston Globe]