cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Share your quitting journey

'If dad-to-be smokes DNA damage may pass to kids'

Thomas3.20.2010
0 0 10

“Fathers who smoke pass on damaged DNA to their children – raising the risk of cancer,” the Daily Mail has warned.

The Mail’s story was based on a small study of predominantly Greek families, whose lifestyle and genetic make-up were analysed to detect whether parental smoking before and during pregnancy led to DNA damage in their newborn babies.

Mothers smoking during pregnancy and fathers smoking before pregnancy were the two most relevant factors to predicting the level of genetic damage in the newborn.

The Mail’s suggestion that this DNA damage could increase the child’s risk of cancer is slightly misleading. This study did not investigate whether the DNA damage had any effect on the infants’ cancer risk, or their risk of any other disease.

Smoking during pregnancy is already known to harm the unborn child. This study suggests that fathers who smoke regularly before conception may also damage their children (at a genetic level), but stops short of proving this or demonstrating how paternal smoking may affect the health of the infant.

 

Where did the story come from?

The study was carried out by a collaboration of international researchers led by a team at the University of Bradford. The work was funded by the European Union Integrated Project NewGeneris and the study was published in the peer-reviewedJournal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

The researchers wanted to investigate the possible roles of exposure to environmental and lifestyle toxins (such as tobacco smoke) before and during conception and pregnancy. They wanted to see how these might affect the DNA of newborn babies. However, this study did not investigate whether the DNA damage had any effect on the infants’ cancer risk, or their risk of any other disease. Similarly, the proposed link between fathers smoking and DNA damage to their children needs further investigation before we can be sure such a link exists.

 

What kind of research was this?

This was a cohort study that examined the blood of mothers and their babies as well as the blood and sperm of the babies’ fathers to see whether genetic damage was passed on from either parent to the newborn and which, if any, lifestyle factors were associated with this inherited damage.

A cohort study is an appropriate way to investigate this phenomenon. It means you can be certain that the lifestyle and environmental exposures came before the pregnancy. However, it is difficult to prove cause and effect with this type of study because the role of genetics and environmental exposure is difficult to disentangle.

 

Read more: http://www.midhurstandpetworth.co.uk/news/health/if-dad-to-be-smokes-dna-damage-may-pass-to-kids-1-3...

About the Author
63 years old. 20 year smoker. 11 Years FREE! Diagnosed with COPD. Choosing a Quality LIFE! It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. -Galatians 5:1