"Birth Defects Linked to Smoking While Pregnant"

"LONDON -- Pregnant women who smoke are much more likely to deliver babies with missing or deformed limbs, clubfoot, cleft palate and gastrointestinal problems than nonsmokers, finds the first study to identify the specific birth defects most associated with smoking.

The study by scientists at University College London was published today in the journal 'Human Reproduction Update.'

'People may think that few women still smoke when pregnant. But the reality is that, particularly in women under 20, the numbers are still staggeringly high,' said the study's lead author Professor Allan Hackshaw, UCL Cancer Institute and member of the Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Advisory Group."

Environment News Service had the story June 11, 2011.