Tobacco.org

Smoking during pregnancy may increase risk for autism in children 

Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy and the Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders Using Data from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network 

Screening for Smoking May Reveal Illicit Drug Use in Pregnancy 

Lighting up while pregnant 

Smoking During Pregnancy Linked to High-Functioning Autism  

Pregnant women who smoke may be at higher risk for having a child with high-functioning autism, such as Asperger’s disorder, according to preliminary study findings by researchers involved in the U.S. Autism Surveillance Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It has long been known that autism is an umbrella term for a wide range of disorders that impair social and communication skills,” says Amy Kalkbrenner, assistant professor in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, lead author of the study.

“What we are seeing is that some disorders on the autism spectrum, more than others, may be influenced by a factor such as whether a mother smokes during pregnancy.” . . .

The study is published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Source: University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Jump to full article »

Smoking during pregnancy may increase risk of autism in children 

• Study explores links between smoking during pregnancy, autism 

Women who smoke in pregnancy may be more likely to have a child with high-functioning autism, such as Asperger’s Disorder, according to preliminary findings from a study by researchers involved in the U.S. autism surveillance program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Amy Kalkbrenner, UWM Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health

“It has long been known that autism is an umbrella term for a wide range of disorders that impair social and communication skills,” says Amy Kalkbrenner, assistant professor in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, lead author of the study. “What we are seeing is that some disorders on the autism spectrum, more than others, may be influenced by a factor such as whether a mother smokes during pregnancy.”

The study was published April 25, 2012, in an advance online release by the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Smoking during pregnancy is still common in the U.S. despite its known harmful impacts on babies. Kalkbrenner found that 13 percent of mothers whose children were included in the study had smoked during pregnancy.

Jump to full article »

Pregnant? Don’t smoke. Period. End sentence. 

Pregnant smokers in Kingston ‘need more help’ 

A top doctor has called for greater support for pregnant mothers who smoke and take drugs.

In the past 12 months a shocking 267 smokers and three heroin-dependant mums at Kingston Hospital refused to give up their addiction while pregnant, leading to the premature birth of two babies, a Comet investigation has revealed.

Further figures published by the Department of Health showed 5.6 per cent of pregnant smokers registered at Kingston PCT were still lighting up while they were pregnant.

The figures compare badly to neighbouring Richmond and Twickenham PCT with 3.5 per cent and Wandsworth at 3.8 per cent, though are well below the national average of 13.5 per cent.

Jump to full article »

• HUPAN v. MONSANTO, PHILIP MORRIS (PDF)  

INTRODUCTION

1. This lawsuit concerns children born with severe birth defects.

2. These children and their parents all reside in the Republic of Argentina, in the Province of Misiones. Misiones is located in the northeastern corner of Argentina where it borders on both Brazil and Paraguay. This region is largely rural, agricultural and semi-tropical. It is notable as an area devoted to the cultivation of tobacco.

3. Annually, roughly 14,000 metric tons of tobacco is imported into the United States from Argentina. Most of the tobacco grown in Argentina is cultivated in Misiones.

4. The injured infant Plaintiffs are offspring of agricultural workers who at relevant times were engaged in the cultivation of tobacco as well as other crops.

5. Defendants are either corporations who wrongfully participated in the promotion, manufacture, design, sale, distribution and use of certain reproductively toxic herbicides, pesticides, insecticides and other chemical products which were used by the parental Plaintiffs in the cultivation of tobacco and other crops; and/or corporations who wrongfully participated in the promotion, cultivation, purchasing, design, sale and distribution of tobacco using the aforesaid toxins.

6, Plaintiffs contend that these Defendants, acting both individually and collectively, in violation of the laws of both Argentina and the United States, wrongfully caused the parental and infant Plaintiffs to be exposed to those chemicals and substances which they both knew, or should have known, would cause the infant offspring of the parental Plaintiffs to be born with devastating birth defects.

7. Plaintiffs further contend that this misconduct proximately caused the birth defects suffered by the injured Plaintiffs.

8. Moreover, Defendants wrongfully concealed information concerning the nature of their misconduct, and also made false or misleading statements respecting the safety of the exposures they were promoting. These statements were made for the purpose of inducing the parental Plaintiffs to acquiesce in the aforementioned exposures, secure in the "knowledge" that their potential offspring were being protected. Defendants were successful in achieving their desired result. By this conduct Defendants also both assumed and then breached duties to the infant plaintiffs.

9. The physical injuries suffered by the infant Plaintiffs and the damages suffered by all Plaintiffs are compensable under the laws of both Argentina and the United States.

10. The misconduct broadly described above was planned, organized and orchestrated by Defendants in the United States for the purpose (that was realized) of earning profits that were received by Defendants in the United States.

11. Defendants' misconduct was, at a minimum, executed with a conscious or reckless disregard of the safety and well-being of Plaintiffs and was motivated by simple greed.

Jump to full article »

• Monsanto and Big Tobacco Blamed for Birth Defects 

Monsanto, Philip Morris and other U.S. tobacco giants knowingly poisoned Argentinean tobacco farmers with pesticides, causing "devastating birth defects" in their children, dozens of workers claim in court.

The farmers, on their own behalf and for their injured children, sued Altria Group fka Philip Morris Cos., Philip Morris USA, Carolina Leaf Tobacco, Universal Corporation fka Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Monsanto, and their affiliates and Argentine subsidiaries, in New Castle County Court.

The farmers grow tobacco on small family-owned farms in Misiones Province and sell it to U.S. tobacco distributors. Most of Argentina's tobacco is grown in Misiones, a rural northeastern province.

The farmers claim the tobacco companies asked them to use herbicides, pesticides and other toxic products made and distributed by Monsanto, and assured them the products were safe.

Jump to full article »

• Anti-tobacco law only limited to paper 

Even though it has been eight months since the government declared ban on public smoking and promotion of tobacco products, the legislation is yet to be implemented fully.

The government has authorised the local administration in each district to implement the anti-tobacco law, but till date there has not been even a single case wherein anyone has been punished for smoking in public.

Under Secretary at the Ministry of Health and Population Komal Acharya claimed that the anti-tobacco law is being implemented at the district level by authorities.

"It's in the process of being implemented but I am yet to receive any update on it," he said. . . .

Anyone selling tobacco products to persons under 18 years of age and pregnant women will be fined up to Rs 10,000. . . .

It is also mandatory for producers to cover 75 per cent of the packet of tobacco products with statutory warning.

Jump to full article »

• Fetal Cocaine Exposure May Not Affect Kids' Academics: Study 

Exposure to cocaine, tobacco or marijuana before birth does not cause children to score lower on academic tests, according to a new study.

Prenatal alcohol exposure, however, even in children with no signs of fetal alcohol syndrome, was associated with lower scores at age 11 in math reasoning and spelling, Boston University researchers found.

The negative associations between intrauterine alcohol exposure and lower test scores are significant, the researchers said, because the study controlled for other substances, and the children did not have fetal alcohol syndrome and had not been born preterm, all of which could potentially decrease test scores.

In conducting the study, which was published online in the journal Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, researchers collected academic achievement test scores from 119 low-income 11-year-olds enrolled in a study on cocaine exposure before birth. The researchers found that neither intrauterine exposure to cocaine nor exposure to tobacco or marijuana was associated with lower test scores.

The study authors said their findings could have serious implications for education.

Jump to full article »

• Assessment of prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke by cotinine in cord blood for the evaluation of smoking control policies in Spain 

Conclusions

Our study indicates that there is a significant maternal smoking habit in this geographical area. Our recommendation is that campaigns against smoking should be directed more specifically towards pregnant women with particular emphasis on non-native pregnant smokers due to the highest prevalence of tobacco consumption in the immigrant women.

Jump to full article »

Breath tests call to combat smoking during pregnancy 

PREGNANT women could be breath tested to see if they smoke so that health professionals can help them quit, a leading anti-tobacco crusader says.

Director of Quit Victoria Fiona Sharkie said although pregnancy prompted many women to quit, research also suggested some chose not to discuss smoking with midwives and doctors because they felt guilty about continuing.

For this reason, she said Australian health authorities could follow the UK and use breath tests for carbon monoxide so that all women are tested and prompted to discuss the issue during pregnancy.

Jump to full article »