How smoking affects smokers' health and the health of their children. How nicotine replacement therapy can help smokers quit. Male smokers are also more likely to be impotent, or to produce less sperm than men who don't smoke - and their sperm may also have more abnormalities. Women smokers take longer to conceive.
Smokers are even more likely to develop hearing loss and problems with eyesight.
Children of smoking parents have a higher risk of dying of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and of developing asthma, while children whose fathers smoke have an increased risk of developing childhood cancer. But although most smokers know they should quit, it's not always easy. Tobacco contains a very addictive substance called nicotine - doing without it can cause withdrawal symptoms like cigarette cravings or irritability. This is where nicotine chewing gum and nicotine patches may help. Both products are now available from chemists without prescription and work best for people who smoke more than ten cigarettes a day.