Mothers who smoke during pregnancy or while breastfeeding could be endangering their sons’ fertility, research shows.
Scientists have found it permanently damages the reproductive organs so they produce faulty sperm.
They say many men now in their 30s and 40s may be suffering the effects of their mothers smoking throughout pregnancy.
Around
one in eight women now smoke when pregnant although this percentage was
far higher in the 1970s and 80s when so little was known about its
harmful effects.
Australian researchers studied mice who inhaled the equivalent of 24 cigarettes a day before giving birth.
They found that the male pup mice produced far fewer sperm and they were of poorer quality.
Although the study was only in mice the researchers say the findings are relevant to mothers.
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