Posted on 04/09/2005 8:20:36 PM PDT by paulat
Grandchildren of smokers at risk
NEW research suggests women who smoke while pregnant are putting their grandchildren as well as their children at risk, writes Jonathan Leake. The study suggests that some of the chemicals in smoke can permanently alter the DNA of those exposed to it in ways that can be inherited by smokers’ children, grandchildren and possibly subsequent generations too.
The researchers analysed asthma rates in both the children and grandchildren of women who smoked during pregnancy.
They found the grandchildren of such women had 2.1 times the normal risk of developing asthma. The children of women who smoked in pregnancy were 1.5 times more likely to develop asthma.
Dr Frank Gilliland of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California said: “These findings indicate smoking could have a long-term impact on a family’s health that has never before been realised.”
In Britain about a quarter of all women smoke, with the proportion rising among younger women.
Gilliland and his colleagues studied 338 children who developed asthma before their fifth birthdays, comparing them with 570 youngsters without the condition.
They found children whose mothers and grandmothers both smoked had the highest risk, with a likelihood of developing asthma 2.6 times higher than normal. The research will be published in Chest, a medical journal.
They sure are!
However smoking has nothing to do with their demise.....
The SN's just hate the likes of you!!! ; )
You, my FRiend are a breath of fresh air with your post.
EG
I was born with asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, and whooping cough and spent the first 6 months of my life in an oxygen tent.
Neither of my parents or my four grandparents smoked and before leaving grade school I achieved 2 Presidential physical fitness awards signed by President Nixon.
Nowadays I am convinced that I would have been labeled an invalid and would be deemed unable to be a productive member of society.
Wow!
I hope your profession isn't related to philosophy.
I'm sure there are pictures of me with a cigarette while pregnant - I sure know there are a bunch of me being in "bars"..........the Legislature was in session, it was an election year, and political fundraisers were all held in the bar/tavern area of local restaurants.........but the beers seen in my hand were non-alcoholic.
I did not drink decaf coffee either - I see no useful purpose for that stuff.........but I had long given up drinking much coffee by the time I was pregnant.
My almost 7yo is healthy as a horse and as stubborn as her mother!!!!
I smoke and my daughter has never had asthma!
Though my maternal grandmother never smoked cigarettes, my maternal grandfather smoked a pipe and cigars...as does my husband.
This whole thing about what others will/DO get because someone else smokes, is beyond stupid!
And what "vices" do YOU have, that will kill off/harm your grandchildren?
My almost 7yo is healthy as a horse and as stubborn as her mother!!!!
I don't have to talk to you then - I know now - she will be just as stubborn as I was at that age - and just as healthy!!!
Are you genuinely advocating the mass execution of pregnant smokers, or did I miss the sarcasm?
I lived to the age of 40 without ever having attended school or worked with one asthmatic. I'd heard the word and that was it. Virtually every kid I went to school with and nearly everyone I worked with through that two score smoked. This is just nonsense.
It stands to reason. What happens if future studies show that these evil smoking wenches cause problems that skip generations? Great Caesar's Ghost! You could have folks getting sick down the road without having a clue as to whom to blame! They might be forced to blame God! Then where would we be? You can't sue God! At least I don't think you can win.
We need to nip this in the bud and right now! Killing them seems the simplest solution. If they have any smokes left in the packages, send them to me. I'm pretty sure I can't get pregnant.
Well, that would depends on whether it is proved that the smoking damages the DNA and if, with the passage of time, that DNA damage can be repaired.
One "Fun Science Fact" that most people are not aware of is that, before birth, a female fetus has already formed all the ova that she will have in her ovaries during her adult life.
That means that the one particular ovum that would ultimately become Happygal was formed in your mother's ovary while your mother was still a fetus in your grandmother's uterus.
It's been on Fox News ALL day about this. I sick and tired of it!
No one is making you read this thread.
You have just given me reason to be thankful my cable went out (again) before noon today and hasn't come back on.
Asthma is just the latest hobbyhorse. When I was a child, I knew exactly one,ONE child who had asthma. Now, they are making it seem like a pandemic.
When I was a child, just about EVERY grownup smoked. So how come I knew only ONE kid who had asthma?
Yep, when you can't justify the previous studies you need to create more fictitious data to assure the public that the demonization of smoking was the right thing to do.
What else should we expect as the rates of asthma has increased as the rate of smoking (exposure to SHS) has decreased? When your previous stance has shown your logical fallacy, just make stuff up to keep the sheeple herded.
Smoking must prevent asthma. I've also wondered why if lead is so dangerous and we've been getting rid of lead for many years, are learning and behavior disorders increasing?
I seriously doubt smoking prevents asthma............however if one chooses to utilize the same pseudo-science being used in many of these "studies" which all belie the fact that correlation does NOT equal causation, one could possibly reach that conclusion.
There does however seem to be a correlation between the increase in asthma and the increasingly sterile environment in which children are kept - they don't play outside as much, homes are much more energy efficient (less fresh air) and nearly all cleaning products are anti-bacterial.
As to lead and increased learning and behaviorial disorders, I really don't know. Of many of the anti-smoker contingency have claimed for years that both learning and behavioral problems are caused by exposure to SHS.
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