FATHER'S SMOKING MAY CAUSE CHILDREN'S CANCER [12/18]

Smoking by fathers can be very harmful to their children.

A new report, by the Oxford Survey of Childhood Cancers, and published in the British Journal of Cancer concludes:

* 15% of all childhood cancers may be caused by fathers who smoke

* the more a man smokes, the greater the risk of illness in his children

* as many as 1 in 7 childhood cancers may be due to fathers damaging their sperm by smoking

* the risk to children increased the more a man smoked

* a father who is a heavy smoker increases his child's level of risk by almost 50%

ASH suggests that readers bring this new information to the attention of any young couples they know.

ASH - ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH 2013 H Street, NW / Washington, DC 20006 / (202) 659-4310