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Smoking Debate 8-Aug-2006 At 12:02:56 PM M

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On 8/08/2006 One Day Hero wrote:
. There are world class climbers
>who smoke a lot of tobacco and a lot of dope, therefore you have to accept
>that smoking does not affect climbing performance in every case.

The fact that there are strong climbers who smoke does not prove smoking does not affect climbing
preformance. It is evidence that smoking does not prevent you from climbing near the top levels. However
this does not mean that if top climbers who smoked, didnt smoke but kept every other part of their training
the same, they would not climb even harder. Maybe a smoker who climbs 33 would climb 34 if they didnt
smoke. Maybe the effect would be lesser or greater who knows.
Given the proven health effects of smoking it is hard to believe there are no detrimental effects to
performance.

As far as someones choice to smoke and as to weather that affects their performance, thats their
business alone.

Its only when people behaviour affects others that we have cause to be critical.

If smokers dont litter, or smoke around others particuarly kids then its their choice.

My real gripe with (some) smokers is parents who expose their kids the risks of their choice. This is
particuarly true of pregnant women who smoke and potential fathers who smoke.
I am getting off topic and its not climbing related but I dont understand why more empahsis isnt made
about the risks of paternal smoking prior to conception. I am only posting this because I suspect alot of
smokers arent aware of this.
Smoking is known to cause mutations in the DNA of sperm. This means that children whos fathers smoke
have increased risk of mutations in their DNA. This can lead to all sorts of adverse affects. The most well
studied of these is cancer. Some kinds of cancer have 3-4 fold increase in children whos fathers smoke.
see link to one such study
aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/163/12/1091
I am not aware of specific studies but learning difficulties and physical disabilitys as well as many general
health issues are also likely to be of increased frequency in the children of smokers.
As a parent I cannot comprehend how someone could knowingly expose their future child to a significant
cancer risk. On a positive note it is likely that giving up smoking three months before conception is likely
to significantly reduce this risk. This is approximately the time it takes for sperm to develop and is likely
to be the period in which they are most suseptible to DNA damage.