Fatherly Risk: Papa may cause defects too.

JOFFE, Justin M.; SOYKA, Lester

The article focuses on a study by pharmacologist Lester Soyka and psychologist Justin Joffe of University of Vermont College of Medicine which examines the effects of administering methadone to male rats to their offspring. It says that methadone was administered to male rats before letting them mate to drug clean females. It reveals the effects to the offspring such as small litter size, low birth weights, and extreme number of deaths. It says that similar patterns occur on preliminary experiments with morphine, caffeine and propoxyphene. Moreover, several speculations were cited by Soyka on how chemicals affect the offspring such as sperm damage during or after their development, change in the character of the seminal fluid, and alteration in mating habits.