Second Hand Smoking Very Harmful to Pregnant Women

The researchers at the University of Nottingham have discovered that non-smoking pregnant women who inhale tobacco smoke have a greater likelihood that their child will be stillborn or will have birth defects.

The scientists advise prospective smoking fathers to think it over and to avoid smoking in the presence of a pregnant woman. Future mothers should also be aware of the potential danger caused by tobacco smoke which affects the body long before conception, and not only during pregnancy.

Dr. Jo Leonardi-Bee says that second hand smoking mothers subject their future children to a variety of risks, including fetal death, low birth weight, premature birth and serious birth defects. Second hand smoking involves the influence on the fetus of the same 4000 tobacco smoke toxins, though in lower concentration.

The researchers claim that the risk of complications is connected with the number of cigarettes smoked. Exposure to smoke from more than 10 cigarettes per day considerably increases the risk of the child’s birth defects. It is therefore very important for future fathers to reduce the number of cigarettes smoked in the presence of a mother to be, or abandon the bad habit completely.

Source of the image: Photl.