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摘要：
那些吸烟的父母们或许想不到，他们的这一不良习惯已经给自己的小宝宝带来了切切实实的危害。最近，在那些父母是烟民的婴儿的尿液样本中，美国科学家发现了和香烟烟雾有关的致癌物质。
Scientists have detected cancer-causing chemicals associated with tobacco smoke in the urine of infants whose parents smoke.
那些吸烟的父母们或许想不到，他们的这一不良习惯已经给自己的小宝宝带来了切切实实的危害。最近，在那些父母是烟民的婴儿的尿液样本中，美国科学家发现了和香烟烟雾有关的致癌物质。
据美国“生活科学网”5月11日报道，上述研究结果发表在5月份的《肿瘤流行病学、生物标记和预防》专业期刊上。研究小组的成员之一、美国明尼苏达州大学癌症研究中心的斯蒂芬·赫特说，研究结果支持了下面这个观点，即在童年时期长期接触二手烟，能对其日后患癌症的几率产生不利影响。因此，赫特也建议父母们不要在孩子身边吸烟。
报道说，研究人员收集了144名婴儿的尿液样本，这些婴儿的年龄在3个月至1岁不等。在他们生活的家庭环境中，父母至少有一人是烟民。研究人员在将近一半的尿液样本中发现了相当水平的NNAL。NNAL是人体处理NNK（烟草中特有的亚硝胺，具有很强的致癌作用）时产生的代谢产物。
研究显示，在那些尿液样本中含有NNAL的婴儿的家庭中，家庭成员平均每周吸烟76支。而那些尿液样本中未发现NNAL的婴儿的家庭中，家庭成员平均每周吸烟27支。赫特说：“你可以在那些和香烟烟雾亲密接触的人的尿液中发现NNAL，无论他们是成年人、儿童还是婴儿。”
报道说，研究中发现的这些婴儿尿液中的NNAL水平要高于那些接触二手烟的较大一些的儿童或成年人尿液中NNAL的水平。研究人员猜测，这可能是由于婴儿不太容易走动，因此很难避免周围的香烟烟雾。研究人员还说，父母光做到婴儿在场时不吸烟可能还不够，因为NNAL和尼古丁有可能会附着在灰尘和家居用品的表面。
赫特和其同事此前进行的研究显示，如果母亲在怀孕期间吸烟，那么在新生儿的第一泡尿液中也能检测到NNAL这种物质，而且其水平还要高于目前这项研究中婴儿尿液里的NNAL水平。这项最新研究还包括一个历时半年的干预计划，以帮助母亲们减少其宝宝接触二手烟烟雾的伤害。
Scientists have detected cancer-causing chemicals associated with tobacco smoke in the urine of infants whose parents smoke.
The finding, detailed in the May issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, supports the idea that persistent exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke in childhood can contribute to the development of cancer later in life, said study team member Stephen Hecht of the Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota.
"The take home message is, ‘Don‘t smoke around your kids,‘" Hecht said.
The researchers collected urine from 144 infants, aged 3 months to 12 months, who lived in homes where at least one parent was a smoker. Urine from nearly half of the infants contained detectable levels of NNAL, a chemical byproduct produced in the human body when it processes NNK, a cancer-causing chemical, or carcinogen, found only in tobacco.
"You don‘t find NNAL in urine except in people who are exposed to tobacco smoke, whether they‘re adults, children or infants," Hecht said.
In the families of babies who had detectable levels of NNAL, family members reported smoking an average of 76 cigarettes per week. For babies who had no detectable levels of NNAL in their urine, the average number of cigarettes reportedly smoked by family members was 27 per week.
Levels of urinary NNAL in the infants were higher than that seen in older children and adults exposed to secondhand smoke. The researchers suspect this is due to infants being less able to move around and avoid the smoke. They also hypothesize that it might not be enough simply to stop smoking in the presence of babies, since NNAL and nicotine could potentially cling to dust and the surfaces of household objects.
A previous study by Hecht and his colleagues indicated that the first urine from newborns whose mothers smoked during pregnancy contained even higher levels of NNAL compared to babies in the current study.
The new research also included a six-month intervention program to help mothers decrease their child‘s exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke.
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