Mother’s ruin: what happens in the womb, stays in the womb

Tuesday April 20, 2010

Pregnant women who smoke or are obese are being blamed for their future son’s low sperm count. Government, argues Karen McTigue, should leave us alone and let us worry about our own bodies

Certainly Mother’s Day was over quickly this year. Those bunches of daffodils barely had a chance to wither before the mater-bashing took its place. According to the Daily Telegraph mothers are now to be blamed for their son’s future lack of sperm count if they are either obese or smoke during their pregnancy.

Sure, Mumsnet is the new sounding board for, well, just about everything. And aren’t we all just so thrilled about Sam Cam’s pregnancy, and so enamoured in fact of all our politicians’ breeding programmes, but scratch the surface and mothers (particularly those below the poverty line) are still being slated for everything they may be do before, during and after the gestation of citizen Z.

On Panorama (BBC1) last week, Richard Bilton opened his report about Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool by saying: “Alcohol abuse, childhood obesity, rotting teeth and hearing problems are linked to parental smoking. Doctors say that these conditions are caused by the way children live.” The answer it would seem is to be bullied and patronised by the medical profession until the offspring are taken away by those (overworked and underpaid) social workers. And then?

Evidence

The article in the Telegraph concerning the research on obesity/sperm count is seriously lacking in actual evidence:

“The review found there was no evidence to link exposure to individual chemicals to poor sperm production. However, exposure to complex mixtures of environmental chemicals, as might be experienced in real life, may have an impact on the development of testicles and lead to low sperm counts in adulthood. However, more research would need to be done before a link can be fully proven.” Exactly, so.

Prof Richard Sharpe of the Queen’s Medical Research Institute in Edinburgh says:

“As this review has shown, evidence for widespread or major effects of individual lifestyle or environmental factors on spermatogenesis in adulthood is largely lacking, whereas there is growing evidence that prenatal exposures of males (reflective of maternal lifestyle or exposures) can have major impact on capacity to produce sperm in adulthood.”

Blameless

Nice get out clause, boys. Once again, the future son and heir can live a blameless lifestyle while mother is to blame for any shortages in the reproductive department. Queue here for your future, girls. Your sons are likely to sue you for anything you may have done, at any time in your life, even pre-conception, which may have blighted their future chances of procreating.

Interestingly Saturday’s Daily Mail revealed that Samantha Cameron was spotted drinking a bottle of Mexican lager on Thursday post-debate. Current governmental advice states that pregnant women should not drink at all, which, as with most governmental advice, we should happily go ahead and ignore. In other words, babies or no babies, the government and it’s researchers should back right up and let us worry about our own bodies.