Smoking may influence sex of unborn babe

A study by British pediatricians suggests that smoking cigarettes can influence the gender of an unborn baby.

The doctors at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine say parents who are smokers at the time of conception are more likely to have a female child and the chances of having a male baby decreases by as much as 50 percent if both parents are smokers.

The researchers also suggests that smoking raises the chances of a miscarriage and say substances contained in cigarettes, such as nicotine, inhibit sperm carrying male chromosomes from fertilizing eggs.

An analysis of 9,000 pregnancies at the hospital between 1998 and 2003 showed that mothers who smoked during pregnancy were one-third less likely to have a boy child than non-smokers.

When the father also smoked the chance of having a boy were cut almost in half.

The results also suggest that pregnant women who are exposed to passive smoke are also more likely to have a girl.

The authors say the results raise serious questions about the impact of smoking on the population balance.

Fertility experts have also voiced concern that the study results could encourage parents to take up smoking in an effort to decide their baby's sex.

It is already known that male embryos are less robust and more likely to miscarry than females but the smoking connection adds yet another factor.

However there remains a consensus that would be parents should avoid smoke and smoking altogether if they want a healthy child.