How Can smoking Affect the Pregnancy and the Baby?

Women who smoke while they are pregnant increase their risk for pregnancy-related complications. Pregnancy places a tremendous burden on a woman’s body. From the fluctuating hormones to the effects of weight gain, even the healthiest woman can develop complications during her pregnancy. Those that smoke are at a greater risk.
Smoking during pregnancy can cause a placental abruption. This occurs when the placenta, the baby’s lifeline during the pregnancy, separates from the uterine wall prior to delivery. The placenta will separate naturally during the labor and delivery process, but when it happens prematurely, the results can be disastrous. When placental separation occurs, it is a life-threatening emergency for both mother and baby.
Not necessarily life-threatening, but still very serious, Placenta Previa is another condition that occurs more frequently in women who smoke during pregnancy. The placenta normally attaches to the side of the uterine wall early in pregnancy. With Placenta Previa, the placenta instead attaches low in the uterus, either partially or completely covering the opening of the uterus. If the opening of the uterus is blocked by the placenta when it is time to deliver the baby, a cesarean section will have to be performed.
Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of having an ectopic pregnancy. When this occurs, the embryo does not implant in the uterus. Instead, it implants somewhere else, such as the fallopian tubes. When this occurs, the pregnancy must be terminated, as it cannot grow and thrive anywhere other than the uterus. If left untreated, ectopic pregnancy can be life-threatening.
Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to experience unexplained vaginal bleeding, and premature delivery. Smoking during pregnancy more than doubles the risk of having a stillbirth.

How Can it Harm the Baby?

Women who smoke during pregnancy are exposing their unborn baby to a myriad of potential health problems both during the pregnancy and after birth. One of the most serious complications is premature delivery. A normal pregnancy lasts for 40 weeks. A baby is considered premature if he is delivered any time before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Women who smoke during pregnancy are up to 4 times more likely to have a baby born before 37 weeks than women who do not smoke. Premature babies are susceptible to a host of health conditions, including difficulty breathing, inability to regulate body temperature and low birth weight.
Babies who are born full term are still at increased risk of having a low birth weight if their mothers smoked during pregnancy, even if they were not delivered prematurely. Premature babies and those that are born with a low birth weight have a much higher chance of developing serious medical conditions, including permanent disabilities, mental retardation, behavioral problems, developmental disabilities and even death.  Babies who are smaller at birth generally have smaller lungs and therefore babies. When this occurs, baby’s first days will likely be spent in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hooked up to breathing tubes or a respirator rather than in his mother’s arms. Even after transitioning out of the NICU, these babies will remain at increased risk for developing asthma and other breathing difficulties later in life.
Babies of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are at increased risk for being born with birth defects such as a cleft palate or cleft lip.
Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of giving birth to a baby with a heart defect. These babies are up to 70% more likely to have heart defects than babies who were not exposed to smoke while in the womb.
Babies who are born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy are up to 3 times more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Female Smoking

Latest reports show female smokers make up nearly 20 percent of the world’s tobacco smokers, and that figure is likely to grow due to successful ad campaigns targeting women, with consumption growing fastest among younger women and girls.
As a result, the rate of deaths among this population is also likely to grow – adding to the 5 million who now die each year worldwide from tobacco use and passive smoking. The WHO says the number could reach 8 million deaths by 2030.
To combat the millions the tobacco industry spends each year on ads, health advocates are now trying to step up public awareness campaigns along with anti-smoking restrictions, taxes and bans, especially in low income, developing nations with few controls.

 What’s Behind the Surprise Global Spike in Female Smoking?

Big boost in tobacco tax

The fast-growing group of big names endorsing a big increase in the state tax on online cigarettes sale tobacco products can add the founder of the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Jon Huntsman Sr., the philanthropist and businessman who has donated more than $350 million of his wealth to underwrite research, treatment and prevention of cancers, said Friday the tax is another tool in the fight against what he called "this horrifying disease."
Speaking in the top-floor auditorium of the newest addition to the cancer research center that bears his name and employs 1,600 researchers and staff, Huntsman said institute research has helped make some remarkable advances in the nature and course of cancers.
With each revelation comes more evidence that tobacco use, particularly smoking, is a leading environmental cause of several cancers.
"It's not just lung cancer," Huntsman said, noting that his own father's death was no doubt hastened by smoking. "There are multiple hazards serious enough that you have at best a 50-50 chance of not only getting sick but dying from smoking-related complications."
Huntsman, who has had pancreatic cancer, said life in general is pretty risky and no one gets through it without some kind serious health problem.

Philip Morris test new filter Marlboro cigarettes

Philip Morris USA, the No. 1 U.S. tobacco company, said Monday it has ended test markets of Marlboro-branded cigarettes that use a high-technology filter.

The operating company of Altria Group Inc. said it pulled the plug on Marlboro Ultra Smooth and Marlboro Ultra Light cigarettes, which used an activated carbon filter to deliver nicotine with potentially less exposure to carcinogens than in conventional cigarettes.

Philip Morris said it stopped making new shipments of Marlboro Ultra Smooth to wholesalers on April 1. Those cigarettes were being tested in Atlanta, Tampa (Florida), and Salt Lake City for more than three years. Marlboro Ultra Lights in Phoenix and North Dakota, and Basic Ultra Lights in Washington state also were discontinued, the company said.

"We did see lower consumer acceptance of those products in some of the test markets," said spokesman Bill Phelps. "These are test markets and they're designed to help us learn a lot of things. In the case of Ultra Smooth, it was designed to help us understand consumer acceptance of those particular products' taste and flavor."

Phelps said the company had made no claims that the products reduced health risks.

Shares of Altria rose 18 cents to $20.96 in midday trading.

Philip Morris saw a 4.6 percent decline in cigarette sales volume last year, but said that is estimated to be down 3.6 percent when adjusted for calendar differences and other factors. The industrywide decline is estimated at 4 percent in the United States.

The company has projected that cigarette sales volume will fall between 2.5 percent to 3 percent in the U.S. over the next few years because of concerns about health, smoking bans and price increases.

In turn, Philip Morris is looking to growing its business in other tobacco categories and reduced-risk products, Phelps said.

"We remain committed to our overall objective of reducing the harm caused by cigarette smoking," Phelps said. "That work will continue both for conventional lit-end cigarettes as well as what we would describe as noncombustible tobacco products."

Last year, the company began testing of its Marlboro-branded moist smokeless tobacco product — cut tobacco placed in the mouth — in Atlanta and recently expanded to counties in the surrounding metropolitan area. It also began testing a moist powdered tobacco called Marlboro Snus in Dallas last year, and also has expanded the test to Indianapolis.

Are Electronic Cigarettes Better For Your Health?

Ontario's anti-smoking law is one of the toughest in the country. So is Toronto's own bylaw.
Both ban smoking in offices and enclosed spaces. And both force puffers to head outside for a butt - even in the dead of a -30C winter or the heat of a 40-plus humidex.
Smokers have been forced to grin and bear it all these years, while crying they've been discriminated against. And many have been looking for loopholes to get around the all encompassing bans. And now some think they've found it, thanks to an electronic cigarette.
They're made by a company called Crown Seven. The user puts a nicotine capsule inside, then puffs on one end. The other end lights up just like cigarettes even though this product does not burn.
The gizmo delivers a hit of nicotine but lets out a puff of odourless water vapour instead of a plume of smoke. It only contains nicotine and not the hundreds of other chemicals that can be in a standard smoke.
It comes with a rechargeable battery that heats up the liquid nicotine and turns it into a gas. And since it's not technically cigarettes and doesn't threaten anyone else's airway, it may not fall under the strict laws regarding indoor puffing. But how does it taste?
"It's got a bit of a bite, sort of tobacco-like bite but it doesn't really taste like tobacco," reports volunteer Leo Jablonski.
They're for sale all over the Internet at a range of strengths and prices, and advocates insist they have lots of benefits. There's no chance of fire since you don't light them, they don't stain your teeth, there's no second-hand smoke and they may make quitting easier.
But vendors also claim they don't harm your health because the tar and smoke that comes with normal coffin nails isn't present.
"I think people need to be cautious," warns Dr Roberta Ferrence, director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. "It's an unknown."
"The concern is that the product will probably be promoted as something that's safer than smoking," she adds.
Dr Ferrence doesn't think they're safe at all.
In an interview with CityNews Medical Specialist Dr Karl Kabasele, she pointed out the many disadvantages of this "smokeless" cigarette:
We don't know for certain that they are less harmful than regular cigarettes. They're not regulated, and because they're available in different strengths, it's difficult to gauge the danger.
It keeps smoking visible, and therefore increases its social acceptance, at a time when the Ontario government is working to make smoking "uncool."
Kids will have easier access to the gadget, and it may act as a gateway to the real thing.
It's not a tool to help you quit smoking; it's just a way to get around the smoking ban laws. There's no evidence that it can help with smoking cessation.
Finally, inhaling nicotine is the most addictive of all delivery modes.
However, the company never claimed it could be used to help you quit smoking.
"It's intended just for smoking alternative...for smokers to get their nicotine in nonsmoking environments," agrees Ron MacDonald, President and CEO of Crown Seven.