Return to
Scott County

Return Home

Find a
"No Smoke Frog" for your children to color

Even before they are born
New data gives staggering evidence of long term
social and health problems for babies
whose mothers smoked while pregnant

    Problems for these babies include diabetes, obesity and even criminal behavior
and substance abuse.

       The study looked at 11,359 babies born in England in 1958. It found that babies
born to mothers who smoked after the fourth month of pregnancy were
significantly more likely to develop type II diabetes by age 33 than children of
nonsmokers. The study was adjusted for factors such as socioeconomic level
and if the child became a smoker before age 16.

       Previous research has shown that sons of mothers who smoked during pregnancy
are more than twice as likely as the sons of nonsmokers to have a criminal record
by the age of 22. Substance abuse is one of the causes of this problem.

      Exposure to smoke while still in the uterus is also associated with impulsive
behavior and learning disorders in children which could contribute to adult crime
and substance abuse.

     Doctors suspect these problems result from “Lifelong metabolic problems, possibly due to malnutrition or toxicity from the smoke.”

Published in the March 2002 issue of Respiratory Reviews
Johnson Publishing LLC, 100 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10013-1678