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.
There should be much less SHS now than in former years so learning/behavioral problems should be lessening.
If SHS exposure were a "cause" to begin with, I would agree - but since there is no link............
People just looking for a means of keeping grant money flowing and there is a lot of money to be made in anti-smoking grants.
You probably just nailed it.
It has long been a pet peeve of mine - and not just about smoking, although that does expose a very bad side of the issue.
The study suggests
I'd suggest what they can do with this 'study', but I don't want to get banned! :)
I know what you mean, kinda. The only two asthmatic children I knew, were my brother and myself.
"I know what you mean, kinda"
Sorry, what I left out were the words "parents of" as in the parents of everyone I knew and went to school with while growing up, smoked. Yet none of them had asthma. Not a one.
I really believe it's genetic. I understand that smoking around asthmatics is harmful. But I find it hard to believe that parents' or grandparents' smoking causes kids to have asthma. One of my kids is asthmatic and - surprise! - so was his grandmother.
Yes asthma is genetic, as allergy is genetic. As I a sure you have learned because of your asthmatic child, asthma is allergy related. No allergies no asthma. You become allergic to things you are exposed to. Why you will become allergic to some things, cats, for instance and not dogs, is unknown to me.
I am 64 and my brother is 60, we grew up in a world where everyone smoked and tobacco smoke still makes us choke up and have difficulty breathing. He has a number of things that will bring on an asthma attack, with me it is just tobacco smoke.
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