Grandparents in firing line over passive smoking and giving treats

ALISON MEIKLE

and so are more likely to stay in the home with the children than take them out.

The review also identified problems regarding tobacco smoke as grandparents are not complying with parents’ wishes regarding second-hand smoke and being role models who don’t indulge in unhealthy behaviours.

Dr Chambers said: “While the results of this review are clear – that behaviour such as exposure to smoking and regularly treating children increases cancer risks as children grow into adulthood – it is also clear from the evidence that these risks are unintentional.

“Currently, grandparents are not the focus of public health messaging targeted at parents and, in light of the evidence from this study, perhaps this is something that needs to change given the prominent role grandparents play in the lives of children.”

The study, published in PLOS One and financed by Cancer Research UK, aimed to identify potential influence grandparents’ habits may have on youngsters’ health.

Professor Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK’s prevention expert, said: “Children’s health can be affected by a range of factors, and this study reinforces the importance of the broader family picture.

“With both smoking and obesity being the two biggest preventable causes of cancer in the UK, it’s important for the whole family to work together.

“Children should never be exposed to second-hand smoke but it’s also important for children to maintain a healthy weight into adulthood and, in today’s busy world, it’s often the wider family who have a role to play in keeping youngsters healthy. If healthy habits begin early in life, it’s much easier to continue them as an adult.” BETHANY KINGSLEY-GARNER and Andrew Peasgood brought a touch of Christmas spirit to one of Scotland’s leading shopping centres.

The Scottish Ballet dancers, who are in The Nutcracker, were in Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow to mark the start of the festive shopping season. The centre also launched its first Christmas TV advert in a bid to attract shoppers.

The Nutcracker opens at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh on December 9 before performances at Glasgow’s Theatre Royal in the new year.

Picture: Kirsty Anderson