Nicotine gum ‘puts unborn babies at risk’

Pregnant women using nicotine patches and gum to help kick their smoking habits may be harming their unborn babies, scientists claim.

Pregnant women using nicotine patches and gum to help kick their smoking habits may be harming their unborn babies, scientists claim.

Published Aug 16, 2011

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London - Pregnant women using nicotine patches and gum to help kick their smoking habits may be harming their unborn babies, scientists claim.

They say the addictive substance is absorbed by the foetus, potentially causing high blood pressure and heart problems later in life.

Researchers suspect that nicotine causes harmful molecules to form in the babies’ blood vessels while they are still in the womb.

These chemicals, known as reactive oxygen species, permanently damage the blood vessels so they are unable to function properly, which can lead to high blood pressure and heart problems.

Women who smoke are strongly urged to give up during pregnancy because cigarettes put unborn babies at a much higher risk of premature birth, cot death, deformities and childhood illnesses.

Although doctors advise women to stop smoking without nicotine products, many find giving up the habit too difficult.

In the past, packets of the patches and gum displayed warnings saying they should not be taken by pregnant women.

But in 2006 the Government removed this advice claiming that advantages of the treatments in helping mothers stop smoking far outweighed their risks.

But a study by the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California, published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, found that baby rats whose mothers had been exposed to nicotine had higher blood pressure, which is known to increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, of the British Heart Foundation, said: “There is lots of help out there for smokers wanting to quit that doesn’t involve nicotine, so there really is no excuse for expectant moms not to kick the habit.” - Daily Mail

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