Smoking drastically reduces fertility and child health: report

Smoking damages almost all aspects of sexual, reproductive and child health, according to a stark new report from the BMA.

The report, 'Smoking and reproductive life - the impact of smoking on sexual, reproductive and child health', found that smoking can prevent people starting their own family, and parental smoking can have long-term and serious consequences for child health. Exposure to second-hand smoke is a risk during pregnancy, and harms infants and children, the report said.

The report authors estimate that around 120,000 men aged 30-50 are impotent because of smoking, every year smoking is implicated in around 1,200 cases of malignant cervical cancer, and smoking is linked to around 3-5,000 miscarriages every year

The report also concludes that: women who smoke take longer to conceive; the chances of conception are reduced by up to 40% per cycle; and men and women who smoke may have a poorer response to fertility treatment.

Women who smoke during pregnancy are three times more likely to have a low birth-weight baby, which is closely linked to illness and death in infancy. Smoking during pregnancy also increases the risk of miscarriage, foetal malformations such as cleft lip and palate, stillbirth and death of the newborn, the report said.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's Head of Science and Ethics, said: "The sheer scale of damage that smoking causes to reproductive and child health is shocking. Women are generally aware that they should not smoke while pregnant but the message needs to be far stronger. Men and women who think they might want children one day should bin cigarettes."

She added: "And we're not just talking about having children. Women who want to protect themselves from cervical cancer should give up smoking. 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."

Smoking-related illnesses have been estimated to cost the NHS at least £1.5 billion each year. The costs of children's medical care from exposure to second-hand smoke in Great Britain have been estimated at £167 million at 1997 prices.

(gmcg)