Is There a Link Between a Father's Environment and Drug Tolerance in Children?
A new study published in the journal eLife suggest that a father’s nicotine use could have an effect on children’s risk of some diseases. The investigation found that the offspring of mice routinely exposed to nicotine developed chemical resistances.
The results provide a potential framework for looking at how information about a father’s historical environmental exposure can be passed on to future generations.
The lead researcher on the project questioned: “If a similar phenomenon occurs in humans […] if your father smoked does that mean [for example] chemotherapy might be less effective for you? Are you more or less likely to smoke?”
As many people smoke, he adds, “there are obvious reasons to be interested in whether this type of effect also happens in human beings, but given the differences between mice and humans in their metabolism of nicotine, it will need to be tested rigorously in future studies of human populations.”
