A West Australian study has found that heavy smoking by fathers around the time of conception greatly increases the risk of the child developing Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer. The results indicated that when fathers smoked more than 15 cigarettes a day around the time conception the risk of ALL increased by 35%, when compared with dads who did not smoke. Tobacco is a known carcinogen and, in terms of childhood leukaemia, there’s a plausible biological pathway whereby paternal smoking could actually contribute to disease risk in the offspring, according to the researchers.
Dr Elizabeth Milne, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth
American Journal of Epidemiology; http://www.sciencewa.net.au/3879-childhood-leukaemia-study-points-to-fathers-smoking.html