Great-Grandmother's Cigarette Habit Could Be the Cause of Child's Asthma
That's ridiculous. That's beyond Lamarckian.
Your correlation is probably real, but your biases are glaring.
Asthma is known to be caused by a number of infections.Smoking is very likely a self medicating behavior. Granny apparently didn't have asthma symptoms. I haven't had it since I started smoking either.
Albuterol, the standard treatment for asthma- exhibits antimicrobial properties.
Nicotine strongly inhibits the growth of many microbial pathogens too.
This correlation, as well as the first and second generation study results, are easily explained by a familial genetic predisposition to a respiratory illness.
And that infection is the likely agent of those epigenetic changes you find.
The long term problems with smoking affect the smoker. And anyone in contact with the smoke.
The short term benefits are probably why they survive to have great grandchildren.
Your simplistic advice probably wouldn't change a thing.
But let's try it for a decade just to see, okay?
Oh wait, I just remembered- in the last thirty years, US smoking rates have fallen sharply, but asthma rates have risen dramatically...
Is that your reason for reaching back three generations? Can't find enough smokers to account for your assumptions anymore? Really clever math, if it was.
Such a shame you got the whole cause-effect thing wrong. Good effort, though.
