By Maxine Frith Social Affairs Correspondent
12 February 2004


Smokers hoping to start a family were warned by doctors yesterday that their habit could make them infertile and cause miscarriages and birth defects.

In a report, the British Medical Association (BMA) estimated 120,000 British men aged 30 to 50 had become impotent because of smoking. Up to 5,000 miscarriages every year were linked to smoking and passive smoking, and tobacco was implicated in 1,200 cases of malignant cervical cancer each year.

Women who smoked were also less likely to become pregnant and reduced their chances of successful fertility treatment.

The BMA published the report on the 50th anniversary of official Government recognition that smoking causes cancer. But health concerns linked to reproductive problems have been less well-documented.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the BMA, said: "The scale of damage smoking causes to reproductive and child health is shocking. Women know they should not smoke during pregnancy, but the message needs to be far stronger. Men and women who want to have children should bin cigarettes. Men who want to continue to enjoy sex should forget about lighting up, given the strong evidence that smoking is a major cause of male sexual impotence."

Women who smoke reduce their chances of becoming pregnant by up to 40 per cent per cycle. Mothers who smoke during pregnancy are three times more likely to have a low-birthweight baby. Smoking also increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and malformations such as cleft lip.

Even after birth, the risks continue, with the children of smokers more prone to cot death, respiratory diseases and asthma. More than 17,000 under-fives are admitted to hospital every year because of breathing problems caused by smoke.

Researchers are unclear why smoking has such as massive effect on fertility and the health of the unborn child. But the report makes several recommendations, including calls for graphic pictorial health warnings on tobacco products about risks to unborn babies.

In 1950, a study by Professor Sir Richard Doll showed a link between smoking and cancer, but it was treated with scepticism. Then on 12 February, 1954, the then health minister Iain Macleod gave a press conference during which he chain-smoked and admitted: "It must be regarded as established that there is a relationship between smoking and cancer of the lung."

[Source: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/hea...?story=490472]

Wow, this seems like a good place to tell everybody I was able to put the habit up. On week 3 without a cigarette, and the urge is FINALLY gone. Have a mild craving here and again, but no big deal ignoring it.

Hey.. good for you, Pickachu! Quiting the habit is something to be proud of [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

Congrats Pikachu_PM, hopefully this article will be a good incentive to staying smoke-free [img]smile.gif[/img]

Ehh you do realise that this is rather old news right? ;) It's amazing that the news take an additional 4-5 years to print important scientific results.

Oh, and there are NO benefits from smoking what so ever.

Nope.. I didn't have a clue. ;)

Amazing how people can hack and cough and die all over the place, and it takes scientist decades to prove what people have known for years. :D

I'm 8 months smoke free and am feeling more and more like a non-smoker everyday! [img]smile.gif[/img]

I look back and find it hard to believe how important those things were to me.

Hm.. yes. It's quite easy to see the light when there is no cloud of smoke to block your view.