Paternal smoking linked to leukemia in children

Children whose fathers smoked around the time of their conception have at least a 15 percent higher risk of developing the most common form of childhood cancer, a type of leukemia, according to an Australian study.

Although the findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, credit multiple factors in children developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the study follows others that have also found an increased risk.

"Study results suggest that heavier paternal smoking around the time of conception is a risk factor for childhood ALL," write researchers led by Elizabeth Milne at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Australia.