WARNING: SMOKING MAY DAMAGE MEN'S SEX APPEAL

Campaigners Link Cigarettes With Impotence

CIGARETTE packets should carry a new health warning telling men that
smoking could make them impotent, according to medical experts.

The British Medical Association and the anti-smoking campaigners
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) claim a nicotine habit is the cause
of impotence in 120,000 men aged between 30 and 49 inthe UK.

A survey published today reveals that while the link between impotence
and smoking is scientifically well known, 88 per cent of smokers were
unaware of the risks it posed to their sex lives.

Even when prompted with a list of possible answers, 67 per cent of
smokers failed to identify the danger.

Now the two organisations are calling on the Government and the
European Union to add impotence warnings to tobacco packaging to raise
public awareness of the problem.

In a report published today, Smoking and Erectile Dysfunction in Men,
they say this will provide a powerful incentive for men to give up
smoking.

Cigarettes sold in Thailand now carry impotence warnings, and the idea
is under consideration in Hong Kong.

Dr Bill O'Neill, a tobacco adviser to the BMA, said that although
impotence was often the subject of jokes and banter, it was a very
distressing condition for men and their partners.

He said the impotence warnings would be aimed at young men who were
more likely to pay attention to the possible ill-effects of tobacco
on their sexual prowess than their health.

"It is staggering that so few smokers realise there is a link," he
said.

"I think a stark warning on cigarette packets could really play an
important role in motivating male smokers to give up cigarettes.

"Young men are notoriously resistant to health warnings and think they
will have given up smoking long before cancer or heart disease catches
up with them. But the prospect that they could also wreck their sex
lives might just make them stop and think."

The BMA/ASH report said the damage caused by smoking was cumulative,
and if men smoked heavily during their teens and twenties, they risked
developing impotence in their thirties and forties.

Smoking causes damage to the blood flow to the penis by the long-term
build up of fatty deposits in the arteries, in much the same way that
it damages heart vessels.

As an erection is dependent on blood flow, any damage to the arteries
and veins in the penis can have serious implications.

The report said an additional effect of nicotine build-up in the penis
was venous dilation, which made it difficult to sustain an erection.

It concluded: "Smoking therefore makes it difficultto achieve and
sustain anerection."

Jade Saunders, of ASH, who is one of the report's authors, said: "The
science is pretty clear. Smoking gradually damages those delicate
blood vessels in the penis on which a respectable erection depends.
You might smoke as a teenager, but if you are still smoking at 30, you
are definitely taking chances with your sex life."

The report pre-empts a new EU directive, which will reconsider the
existing regulations on cigarette health warnings.

Since 1989, cigarettes sold in the Britain have carried, on a rotating
basis, one of six messages alerting smokers to the ill effects of
nicotine, including cancer and heart disease.

These were selected by the Government from a list of 17 warnings,
ranging from "Smoking when pregnant harms your baby" to "Every year
addiction to smoking claims more victims than road accidents".

The BMA and ASH want "Smoking causes male sexual impotence", "Smoking
damages sperm" and "Smoking may damage your sex life" added to the
list.

Clive Bates, the director of ASH, said he thought the warnings would
get the attention of a lot of men who would choose to give up smoking
rather than risk losing something as "precious as an erection".

He said while impotence might not be as serious as cancer or heart
disease, men in their twenties might see it as a more immediate reason
to consider giving up smoking.

"It's also a reality check on all the style, sex and glamour that is
supposed to be associated with smoking," he said.

"Despite the hype about cigarettes, the truth is sad, embarrassing and
banal."

John Carlisle, a spokesman for the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association,
said the most recent research had shown 98 per cent of smokers were
aware of health advice on cigarette products. He said that if the
Government chose to add warnings on male impotence to the list of
health messages, the industry would comply.

He added: "We assume this is based on sound scientific evidence, which
we have not seen."

Martin Ball, the campaigns director for the pro-smoking group, FOREST,
said the suggestion that people were unaware of all the health risks
associated with smoking was ludicrous. "It is one of the ever more
fanciful theories as to why the anti-smoking lobby's measures have
failed," he said.

"One sure way to ruin your sex life is to become another anti-smoking
bore."