Could there really be a link between sexuality and smoking?

A controversial study carried out by an Amsterdam-based neuroscientist claims that smoking and drinking during pregnancy could increase the chances of the baby being gay or having a low IQ.

Dr Dick Swaab, professor of neurobiology at Amsterdam University, has said that smoking, drinking, taking drugs or living in a high-pollution area during pregnancy could all have an impact on the unborn baby and its ongoing development.

Dr Swaab suggests that drinking and drug-taking could serve to lower a baby’s IQ, while taking synthetic hormones and smoking while pregnant could boost the chances of female babies becoming bisexual or gay. He asserts that living in an area that suffers from high levels of pollution while pregnant could increase the chances of the baby becoming autistic in the future.

Dr Swaab told the Sunday Times: “Pre-birth exposure to both nicotine and amphetamines increases the chance of lesbian daughters. Pregnant women suffering from stress are also more likely to have homosexual children of both genders because their raised level of the stress hormone cortisol affects the production of foetal sex hormones.

“In women who drink a lot, cells that were meant to migrate across the foetal brain can end up leaving the brain altogether,” he added.

Dr Swaab did go on to say that genetics play the major role in the development of a child, while lifestyle factors had a small influence.