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Smoking Mothers May Alter the DNA of Their Children

Posted by Unknown on from the that-explains-the-hooves dept.

sciencehabit (1205606) writes "Pregnant women who smoke don't just harm the health of their baby—they may actually impair their child's DNA, according to new research. A genetic analysis shows that the children of mothers who smoke harbor far more chemical modifications of their genome — known as epigenetic changes — than kids of non-smoking mothers. Many of these are on genes tied to addiction and fetal development. The finding may explain why the children of smokers continue to suffer health complications later in life.

5 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Smoking Mothers are Smoking! by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Probably why they are Mothers in the first place.

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    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

  2. Dangling participles anyone? by KitFox · · Score: 5, Funny

    Title got my attention and worried me a little bit.

    So do you need to smoke the mother before or after she's given birth to alter her childrens' DNA?

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    @Whee

  3. Totally against smoking mothers by haruchai · · Score: 4, Funny

    steaming, sauteing, or even poaching will keep them plump & juicy

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    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  4. I quit smoking many years ago... by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 5, Funny

    But being a man, I was always smart about which cigarettes I bought. I never bought the ones that caused cancer and all that other scary shit. I only smoked the ones that caused low birth weight and pregnancy complications. I figured since I would never be pregnant, those were the ones to go with. I could never figure out why the brands would keep switching though. ;-)

  5. Re:Smokers by Pino+Grigio · · Score: 3, Funny

    Muff Divers are at higher risk of throat cancer. Ban Muff Diving, yes.