So sorta semi-TIL post. For men, smoking cigarettes causes epigenetic changes which means (as I understand it) that the DNA damage caused by smoking is passed on to their children. The male sperm is damaged from the effects of smoking. There is a ‘significant’ chance of it causing “developmental disorders” which includes autism, ADHD and intellectual disability.
Honestly, search for the articles yourself, there are many and it’s an interesting rabbit hole. I do question how long this has been known to the cigarette companies who conduct their own research.
The UK has banned smoking cigarettes for under 16s for a reason. Making such a huge policy change like that must be for a very damaging reason. NZ did too, but pussied out - presumably from the lobbying.
So I just wanted to touch base and ask who has a father who smokes / used to smoke regardless of whether you’ve been officially diagnosed or think you may be autistic?
EDIT: I actually expected lots of downvotes for this post. There’s a great film called “Thank you for smoking” which everyone should watch.
What do you mean by this for the UK? Have they banned it for under-16s going forward such that they won’t ever be allowed to smoke in the future? Because that’s essentially what NZ was pursuing. Otherwise both NZ and Australia have a pretty strict ban against under-18s smoking.
About a year ago, the UK implemented a law that prevents retailers from selling cigarettes to people born before a certain year to phase out cigarette smoking… Just giving enough time to get a business model together for people to get addicted to vapes which produce more nicotine (the addictive part) per puff than cigarettes.