My favorite anti-tobacco commercials have dealt with them mentioning the toxins, the poisons, the chemicals found in secondhand smoke. You know the commercials, "I shouldn't have to breathe arsenic when I go out to eat," or the "Did you know cigarette smoke contains formaldehyde?"

The reason I love these commercials is because I learn so much from them. Not from the commercials themselves, but from looking up those different chemicals to see if I should really be worried. I have to admit that other than formaldehyde being used in the embalming process and pickling brains in labs I knew next to nothing about this chemical until I started seeing anti-tobacco commercials.

The most amazing thing about this toxin/poison/chemical that would probably shock even the brown shirted antis is that formaldehyde is naturally produced in very small amounts in our bodies. Oh geez, everybody's a walking cigarette.

What's worse, the Department of Health and Human Services says it may reasonably be anticipated to be a human carcinogen. The same goes for the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the Environmental Protection Agency.

A major source of formaldehyde is found in smog. In the home, formaldehyde is produced by gas cookers and open fireplaces. It's used as a food preservative and is in antiseptics, disinfectants, household cleansers, medicines, cosmetics (makeups, nail polishes and hardeners, creams, shampoos, mouthwashes, deodorants, and skin cleansers), dish-washing liquids, fabric softeners, shoe-care agents, carpets, carpet cleaners, glues and adhesives, lacquers, paper, grocery bags and paper towels, plastics, and wood products (fiberboard, plywood and particle board), insulation, paints, and some permanent press fabrics.

Mobile homes, motor homes, and travel trailers have high levels of formaldehyde because much is made from particle board or pressed-wood products. And you thought you'd get some fresh air on your vacation in the mountains. LOL

If you're really scared of formaldehyde, you can move to an unpopulated area. There'll still be formalehyde exposure, but suburban areas will increase your exposure 10-30x more. In a heavily populated area or near some industries, your exposure may be 50-100x more.

But there's good news. Once absorbed, formaldehyde breaks down quickly. It's usually converted to a non-toxic chemical and is excreted in the urine. It's also converted to carbon dioxide and breathed out. The body also uses some of it.

So, if formaldehyde is so bad in secondhand smoke, why do people gargle with it, wash their hair in it, their dishes, and have it in their food with nary a complaint? Because anti-tobacco doesn't really care about health. Just scaring you.

(I should have used a lot of quotes throughout this article. Almost all of this came from):

Toxicological Profile for Formaldehyde July 1999
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
United States Public Health Service

The fact of the matter is that anti NEEDS to scare people because it cannot even make a credible case for the alleged 'dangers' of moderate PRIMARY smoking in adults, never mind SHS. Incidentally, at tobacco.org's archive of ads, there appears a matchless cigarette called Dawn, once made by a defunct company called Stix, Baer & Fuller Inc. This brand had no SHS since it didn't burn. If all brands could be made like this, we could take the wind out of their sales. No smoke means no basis for hysteria and bans.