'SMOKING LIFESTYLE' DAMAGES TEEN SPERM

Study:The Abnormalities Could Help Explain Miscarriages And Birth Defects
Tied To A Father's Cigarette And Alcohol Consumption.

The "smoking lifestyle" appears to cause genetic abnormalities in the
sperm of teen-age men, irregularities that could help explain
miscarriages and birth defects linked to a father's smoking, according
to a study published Friday in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

Sperm from young men who smoked about 20 cigarettes per day and drank
alcohol had either more or less chromosomes than nonsmokers',
researchers from the Czech Republic and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory
determined.

"We have indications that men who smoke and are living a smoker's
lifestyle, consuming more alcohol and caffeine, have a different sperm
quality," said Andrew Wyrobek, a Livermore lab researcher who helped
with the study.

Previous research linked birth defects such as cleft palate with
smoking fathers, as well as decreased fertility or total infertility.
But no studies had shown problems with sperm or their accompanying
chromosomes, the genes that convey hereditary characteristics.

As part of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study, Czech
researchers were surveying 18-year-old men as they entered the
military, and they decided to include lifestyle habits in the survey.

They collected statistics about smoking and drinking habits, as well
as semen and urine, which they used to test smoking levels. Only young
men were included in the study because scientists wanted to minimize
potential exposure to environmental or occupational chemicals, which
can affect fertility.

Only 10 smokers and 15 nonsmokers were included in the study because
the genetic analysis is so difficult; analysis of the 25 people in the
study took about a year, Wyrobek said.

The small study was the first to find chromosome damage in sperm,
researchers explained. They found damage at the X and Y chromosomes,
which determine sex, and at a third chromosome.

They also found that the smokers' sperm were slower and swam in
circles.

Further study is needed to specifically follow the sperm of smoking
fathers through to their children, Wyrobek said. They also need to
separate damage caused by smoking and alcohol and look at damage to
other chromosomes, Wyrobek said.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry