Pregnant? Well, it’s a great time to quit smoking if you want a healthy child,
otherwise you might end up harming your baby boy’s fertility.

Researchers at the University
of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom have carried out a study and found that
smoking reduces the sperm count in babies whose mothers are addicted to puffing
fags even during pregnancy.

According to the researchers,
smoking halves levels of a key testis gene that helps sperm count, and this
creates problems in the development of testicle in baby boys who may end up
having abnormal penis.

"The
gene that plays a key role in normal male development has been linked to
maternal smoking and fertility problems," the

Daily
Mirror

reported, quoting lead researcher
Prof Paul Fowler as saying.

In
fact, Prof Fowler and his colleagues came to the conclusion after analysing the
effects of smoking on a group of mothers during their pregnancy and their
newborns over a period of time.

"It reinforces the very clear
message that women should not smoke during pregnancy," fellow researcher Prof
Siladitya Bhattacharya was quoted by the British tabloid as saying.

The UK study came just days
after researchers in the United States had warned that moms-to-be who drink
alcohol are more likely to cause bad behaviour in their children.

In their study, the American
team found that for each additional day of the week that mothers drank alcohol
during pregnancy, their children had an increase in conduct and impulsiveness
problems than those kids whose mothers did not drink.

Via Times of India