Exposure to cigarette smoke affects female fertility
The latest Newcastle University research has found exposure to cigarette smoke in utero or as a baby can reduce a woman's fertility.
The three-year study has investigated the effects of three chemicals found in cigarettes on ovarian development and egg fertilisation in mice.
Professor Eileen McLaughlin says exposure to cigarette toxins dramatically reduces egg quality and quantity.
"We were very surprised to find that even small doses of chemicals, given to baby mice, cause quite profound changes in their ovaries and the quality of the eggs that they produce," she said.
"About a third of the eggs just disappear, they just die, and of the remaining eggs a large number of them are abnormal, they don't fertilise properly and they look like they have DNA damage."
Professor McLaughlin says she has applied for extra funding to investigate what effect the reduced fertility may have on future generations.
"We'd also be interested to look at what happens to the offspring of the offspring exposed in the uterus," she said.
"And that's because the egg that you come from is made inside the ovary of your mother while she's inside the uterus of your grandmother.
"Technically the egg that you come from could have been exposed to what your grandmother smoked."