Smoking damages almost all aspects of sexual, reproductive and child health, a hard-hitting report by the British Medical Association said on Wednesday.
The report estimated around 120,000 men aged 30-50 were impotent because of smoking.
“The sheer scale of damage that smoking causes to reproductive and child health is shocking,” said Dr. Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA’s Head of Science and Ethics.
The BMA called on the government to ramp up its anti-smoking drive and introduce legislation to make enclosed public places smoke-free.
Women who smoke are twice as likely to be infertile as non-smokers, the report said. Furthermore, smoking is linked to up to 5,000 miscarriages a year and around 1,200 cases of malignant cervical cancer.
“Women are generally aware that they should not smoke while pregnant but the message needs to be far stronger,” Nathanson told reporters. “Men and women who think they might one day want children should bin cigarettes.”
Toxins may damage circulatory system
Impotence caused by smoking may be due to toxins such as carbon monoxide damaging the circulatory system, and hampering blood flow to and from the penis.
As well as running the risk of impotence, the report said men who smoke also have a lower sperm count and a higher proportion of malformed sperm.
Women smokers are at particular risk from Fallopian tube problems which can cause infertility, the report stated.
If infertility prompts smoking couples to try assisted reproductive techniques, such as in vitro fertilization, they are less likely to conceive than non-smokers.
The far-reaching report also underlines tobacco’s massive toll on the health of children, as well as on those bringing them up or hoping to conceive.
Passive smoking is linked to crib death, respiratory infection in children and the development of childhood asthma, the report said.
More than 17,000 children under five have to go to hospital every year because of respiratory illness caused by second-hand smoke, it added.
