Scientists 'shocked' by smoking danger to sexual health

SMOKING has a damaging effect on almost all aspects of sexual, reproductive and child health, doctors warned yesterday.

A report by the British Medical Association's Board of Science and Tobacco Control Resource Centre details some shocking statistics about the impact of smoking on factors other than the well-known cancer risk.

The study Smoking and Reproductive Life estimates about 120,000 men aged between 30 and 50 are impotent because of smoking.

The researchers said smoking and passive smoking were linked to about 3,000 and 5,000 miscarriages a year.

They estimated the chances of a woman smoker becoming pregnant were reduced by up to 40% per cycle. And for couples who are forced to seek expensive fertility treatments, smoking could mean they have to wait much longer for success.

Smoking was also implicated in around 1,200 cases of cervical cancer every year, the report added.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's head of science and ethics, said the sheer scale of damage to reproductive and child health caused by smoking was "shocking".

"Women are generally aware 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."

The effects of smoking on children were also highlighted in the report.

Women who smoke during pregnancy are three times more likely to have a low birth-weight baby, which can lead to illness and death in infancy.

Smoking also increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and death of the newborn baby.

The 70-page report makes a number of recommendations, including calls for pictorial health warnings on tobacco which reflect the risks to reproductive life.

It says that women workers who cannot be ensured protection against passive smoking should be entitled to leave of absence on full pay for their whole pregnancy.