Smoking, children and infertility.
I was waiting at the bus stop with my 5 year old daughter and my baby son, when I saw a woman smoking, standing right over the double stroller of her twin boys, smoke billowing right over their heads. I was furious. I wanted to walk right over and ask her if she actually loved her children. I make no apologies to smokers. My father died from cigarette induced cancer and never got to meet any of his grandchildren.
On July 1st the British government banned smoking in public places, including pubs, cafes, restaurants, shopping malls and clubs.
At first glance this seems like a good idea to enhance the population's health, but my worry is it will only cause parents to smoke more in the home, the very place their children are, and it might actually backfire and put children at risk of health problems.
I also think that the will to quit should come from those who smoke, and not enforced by the government. If people don't have the full facts, if they think it's dangerous to smoke in pregnancy but don't see anything wrong in smoking over their baby's stroller, then the health education campaign is clearly not working.
If couples know before they even get pregnant, that smoking prior to conception and after the birth, may actually make their child infertile, I guarantee there would be a lot more people giving up the habit permanently.
