14 Jul 2005
Cigarette smoke reduces transport of hamster eggs

Here's another candidate for my "Studies in Stupidity" file, hence it goes into humor, even though it's not very funny.

Read the methodology of the study carefully:

When the infundibular region of the hamster oviduct was exposed to six types of cigarette smoke, eggs were 50% to 90% more likely to stick to the infundibulum than was the case in control animals, and 40% to 60% fewer eggs were transported through the oviduct.

So they slice open some hamsters to expose the innards, and then expose one set of innards to cigarette smoke, and just leave the other set sitting there as a control. The set that was exposed to the smoke got sticky eggs ... and this was obviously the fault of tobacco! Another health risk of smoking!

I'll bet that if they had exposed a set of bare oviducts to a mist of Superglue they would've got the same results! Can you see the headline: "Glue Use by Women Lowers Pregnancy Rate"! What if they'd just have used plain old woodsmoke: "Campfires Cut Fertility"!

I've never met a woman who, while trying to become pregnant, would cut herself open to expose her ovaries to any foreign material! Perhaps the title of the study should be "Hamster Holocaust Satiates Anti-Smoking Activists".

Will somebody please tell me this is bogus? Please ...

When eggs and the oviduct of female hamsters are exposed to cigarette smoke, the eggs are less likely to be picked up by the oviduct and delivered to the point where they can be fertilized.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

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