Future smokers may be programmed in womb

MSNBC ^ | 11/28/2006 | MSNBC

[HOTTIEBOY]

Pregnant women's nicotine may pass through placenta and reach fetus

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.

"Our findings suggest a direct effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on young adults' development of regular smoking and provide yet another incentive to persuade pregnant women not to smoke and to discourage young women from ever taking it up," Dr Abdullah Al Mamun, of the University of Queensland, said in the study published in the journal Tobacco Control.

The researchers studied the smoking patterns of more than 3,000 mothers and their children who took part in a long-term study in Brisbane, Australia.

Children of the 1,000 women who had smoked during pregnancy were three times more likely to start smoking by the age of 14 and twice as likely afterwards compared to other children.

The researchers said their results were consistent with findings of earlier studies into the impact of smoking during pregnancy on the child.

The charity ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) welcomed the research, saying it stresses the importance of health education and of dissuading all women of child-bearing age from smoking.

[HOTTIEBOY]

But, but I thought unborn babies were not really babies yet....

[HOTTIEBOY]

pingy

[Anti-Bubba182]

I don't know if this is plausible. More likely the child observes the parent smoking, concludes it is OK, then starts and get hooked. Enviornment is the more likely cause.

[LongElegantLegs]

Children of the 1,000 women who had smoked during pregnancy were three times more likely to start smoking by the age of 14 and twice as likely afterwards compared to other children.

Well, were their Moms still smoking at this point, or did they give it up after pregnancy? Think that might have anything to do with it?

[HOTTIEBOY]

Enviornment is the more likely cause.

Yep. Peer presure, trying to fit in, trying to have a "cool" image.
My parents smoked....I wasn't doomed. I tried it for a little while just like all kids, never picked it up.

[3AngelaD]

Nope, I'm convinced it's hereditary. The only other person in my family who smoked was my elderly granny. All of her granddaughters ended up smoking at one time or another, and had to wrestle with the quitting. Granny lived to be 97.

[conservative cat]

Well, were their Moms still smoking at this point, or did they give it up after pregnancy?

The best way to test it would be to study adoptees whose bio mothers smoked, but whose adopted parents didn't.

Mr. Cat's mom smoked during pregnancy and around him all his life. Not surprisingly, he is a smoker still. He's never NOT had nicotine.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Agree.

[Mr. Brightside]

Conclusion: Abortion subsidies needed to stop second hand smoke.

[Mr. Brightside]

Enviornment is the more likely cause.

And fetal peer pressure. That's why I never let my unborn baby hang around other unborn babies who smoked.

[Mad Dawg]

It's entirely plausible to me. Of course in matters of addiction there will be variations, so the "Well, HAIL, my mother smoked like a chimney and I never touched the stuff," argument is not dispositive.

Nicotine is powerful stuff. Addition and serotonin are powerful stuffs. People vary widely in their response to things - from glutein to peanuts to fava beans to booze. Some people taking statin drugs lose their sense of taste.

When you cosinder the wide range of reactions to drugs, and the power of nicotine to affect appetite, mood, sensation, AND the lack of evidence that it cannot cross the placenta, I can well imagine there being "nicotine babies the way there are "crack babies".

[mad puppy]

This is horse $hiite.

My Mother smoked and I hate cigarettes. None of her 4 kids smoke (ok, one did for about 6 months in High School, but she was crazy then). As a kid, being around someone that smoked in the house and in the car was more then enough to cure me of what ever addictions I might have picked up while in the womb.

[HOTTIEBOY]

I am sure it is the type of research that can have whatever outcome they were looking for.

[LongElegantLegs]

Or they could look up past statistics and figure out what percentage of women smoked in the forties, fifties and sixties, etc. If this study is true then there should be a greater percentage of smokers in my generation than in the previous one. I think.

[WrightWings]

children of women who smoked during pregnancy were more likely to become smokers

Sweet. Now I can look for a government subsidy to cover my increased insurance/medical costs as a smoker.

Nicotine babies. Yup, that's me. Where can I pick up my check? /sarc

[Just another Joe]

They suggest nicotine from cigarettes passes through the placenta and may act directly on the developing brain of the unborn child.

Yep, typical anti study.
suggest - may These are words found throughout studies that are used for propoganda value.

[Buck W.]

So, smokers are victims who can't control themselves.

[CSM]

Add to your comments the fact that nicotine is contained in many foods and their suggested may theories are shown to be bunk.

[Mad Dawg]

No nononononono!

If you're a smoker, the gov't ought to pay you a premium for the probability that you will end up costing the health system less than non-smokers, by thoughtfully dying earlier.

You gotta think these things through. I'm thinking of taking up cigars again as an act of civic responsibility.

[NRA1995]

When you see a future mom, offer her a cigar.....