Tobacco poses threat to moms in developing world

from AlertNet

Pregnant women's exposure to tobacco in developing countries is growing at an alarming rate, U.S. government researchers said on Thursday.

Women in developing countries and their children are increasingly breathing secondhand smoke in their homes, they said, and many are beginning to experiment with smoking, raising the risk of cancer, heart disease and other ills not only for themselves but also for their children.

"Pregnant women's tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke threaten to impede or reverse ongoing efforts to improve maternal and child health in the developing world," said Dr. Michele Bloch of the National Cancer Institute's Tobacco Control Research Branch, whose study appears in the American Journal of Public Health.

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