'No level of smoke exposure is safe'

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/vcu-lo051821.php

 

News Release 19-May-2021
Study links secondhand smoke during pregnancy to epigenetic changes in babies
Virginia Commonwealth University

 

Nearly a quarter of pregnant women say they've been around secondhand smoke - in their homes, at work, around a friend or relative - which, according to new research, is linked to epigenetic changes - meaning changes to how genes are regulated rather than changes to the genetic code itself - in babies that could raise the risk of developmental disorders and cancer.

The study, published today in Environmental Health Perspectives by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center, is the first to connect secondhand smoke during pregnancy with epigenetic modifications to disease-related genes, measured at birth, which supports the idea that many adult diseases have their origins in environmental exposures - such as stress, poor nutrition, pollution or tobacco smoke - during early development.

"What we recommend to mothers in general is that no level of smoke exposure is safe," said study lead author Bernard Fuemmeler, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate director for population science and interim co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control program at VCU Massey Cancer Center. "Even low levels of smoke from secondhand exposure affect epigenetic marks in disease-related pathways. That doesn't mean everyone who is exposed will have a child with some disease outcome, but it contributes to a heightened risk."


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