New Delhi, Jun 30 (PTI) : Exposure to tobacco smoke has been linked with an increase in the presence of non-essential heavy metals such as lead in children’s saliva, which could cause biological malfunctioning, leading to health and behavioural problems.
Researchers at the Pennsylvania State University, US, measured cotinine levels, along with metals, in children’s saliva. Cotinine, a nicotine metabolite present in children’s blood or saliva, is measured to assess their exposure to tobacco smoke, or their environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).
238 (7.5 years of age and under) out of 1,300 children born in 2003 and 2004 and growing up in the rural areas of Pennsylvania and North Carolina in the US, originally recruited for childhood developmental studies, were investigated for this study published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology.
