Baby’s Smoking, Too
Nov 28th, 2006 at 12:38 pm by Susie
I know someone wrote me a while ago in comments, asking if there was any connection. Well, here’s one:
Future smokers may be programmed in the womb to take up the habit later in life, research published on Tuesday said.
Scientists in Australia have discovered that children of women who smoked during pregnancy were more likely to become smokers than other youngsters.
They suggest nicotine from cigarettes passes through the placenta and may act directly on the developing brain of the unborn child.
It’s a shame the study didn’t seem to incorporate in its design the effect of exposure to second-hand smoke by non-smoking mothers and the likelihood their child would become a smoker. I don’t doubt there’s a connection between mothers who smoke and their smoking children, but the study of second-hand smoke on unborn children was an opportunity lost.
Not a big surprise, is it?