Fewer premature births after smoking ban in Scotland (BBC)
By Michelle Roberts
Health reporter, BBC News
Since Scotland introduced a ban on smoking in public places in 2006 there has been a 10% drop in the country's premature birth rate, say researchers.
They believe this is a smoke-free benefit that can be chalked up alongside others, like reductions in heart disease and childhood asthma.
Tobacco smoke has been linked to poor foetal growth and placenta problems.
Plos Medicine analysed smoking and birth rates for all expectant women in Scotland before and after the ban.
It included data for more than 700,000 women spanning a period of about 14 years.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17262897
full paper: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001175
= new reply since forum marked as read
There's no evidence that smoking causes pregnancy problems!! And where most women live, breathing the air outside is worse than smoking.
Sorry, but that's an actual defense from a comment by a recently pregnant smoker (who actually had gone into preterm labor with her third child after smoking through the entire pregnancy) that I encountered here on DU.com. This was back in 2006, I think, and it stuck with me because the ignorance in it was astounding. I can't believe anyone can rationalize smoking while pregnant.
