There are a hundred reasons for all of us to refrain from smoking and dozens of reasons for women to stop smoking during pregnancy.
Researchers are now warning that among the dangers of smoking is the risk of autism in the grandchildren of women who smoked during pregnancy.
The results of a British study from the end of April 2017 may mean that there are a number of Arab women who smoke—perhaps you among them—especially since the frequency of autism is high in the Arab world.
In Saudi Arabia, for example, Dr. Talaat al-Wazna, advisor to the Minister of Social Affairs and Health, and the Secretary-General of the Saudi Autism Association, pointed out that as of April 2016, 1,764 children were diagnosed with autism.
Researchers at the University of Bristol in Britain believe that pregnant mothers who refrain from smoking may give their grandchildren the opportunity for a better life. Smoking negatively affects a woman’s eggs, and there is a possibility of these effects being genetically transferred to her daughter’s eggs.
A study involving 14,500 children born in the UK in the 1990s found that grandchildren whose grandmothers were smokers during pregnancy were 53% more likely to develop autism.
It also showed the granddaughters of women who smoked during pregnancy presented symptoms of autism 67% more often than granddaughters of women who were not smokers.
In the United States, however, where autism affects 1 in every 68 children, researchers believe that this data needs further study, though autism specialists admit that the research from Britain is interesting.
Researchers at the Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New York maintain that the risk of genetic abnormalities and diseases is more pronounced regarding the health of a woman’s foetus, rather than that of her daughter.
In all cases, it is enough to suspect that you are putting your daughters’ or granddaughters’ foetuses in danger for you to cut this silent killer from your habits during pregnancy.