Should pregnant women be banned from smoking in light of new research?

[hunkermunker]

See here

"Nine out of 10 mothers whose babies suffered cot death smoked during pregnancy, according to a scientific study to be published this week. The study, thought to be one of the most authoritative to date on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), says women who smoke during pregnancy are four times more likely than non-smokers to see their child fall victim to cot death."

Personally, I find it very, very hard to understand why anybody smokes while knowingly pregnant. And yes, I know it's addictive. I speak as an ex-smoker, not somebody who has no idea what it's like to have a love affair with the evil weed.

Oh and well done Hunker for posting the OP - I was reading the Indie earlier and wondered who'd be brave enough!

i really cannot see why aitch is being made the scapegoat here.. i am also absolutely bewildered by the turn of this thread, and i have read it all.

surely everyone is pretty much saying the same thing.. impossible to police such a thing, and it is totally beyond the remit of the law, unenforceable and unworkable.

so cannot quite see why aitch is getting it in the neck.

Aitch made the mistake of questioning Custys rather bizarre posts.... Which I would have done myself, had not Aitch been so much more eloquent.

where are those advocating the intervention of the law into womens' bodies, more to the point? unless you're taking custy's radical sushi stance seriously?

i'm pro-choice, but i'm pro-contraception education and use so that fewer people get into that position. i'm against banning smoking (it could never work anyway so completely pointless) and interfering with pregnant women's bodies but pro their taking positive health decisions for them and their unborn child. as ever, education and support are the key.

blazing, smokers do indeed die younger, but I don't think the £12bn annually raised in taxes on smoking is insignificant, exactly. (£12bn last time I checked, may be even more now.)

Will leave the snobbery for someone else to sort out.

priceless, blazingsandals !!

Oh FFS - Aitch was reasonably discussing things, let's not get our flying monkeys anyone.

Calm down have a fag or something (as long as you are not pregnant obv.)

are you for ffing real!so single mothers,people who live in blocks and people on welfare dont care [or are to uneducated to know] if they risk there babies!!!i am none of the above but find it a horrible thing to say please say you where being sarky or something!!!

thankyou lulu and starry, i've been wondering the same thing myself. i'm forced to conclude that custardo is working out some imagined slight and it's all got a bit out of hand. i've got no halo to polish, here, none whatsoever.

well, 'banned' as in the thread title... in essence would mean there would have to be a law passed, so the police wold have to be informed after being given regular information from health care professionals through tests at antenatal appointments. Which would have to be compulsory ( another law!) to attend - so said screening would take place.

it really is a long and slippery road. I think Aitch is correct in her assertion that education is the key

its not imagined. tis for all to read. indeed some have even commented, but how nice of you to continue in the same vein.

The tax on cigs perhaps can pay for all the non-smokers harmed by them as well

I wish there was a tax on coca cola btw as it might encourage me not to buy that...

and blazingsaddles as well. i don't think i've said anythign untoward. feisty, maybe, but that's it.

well, on that note, i shall bid thee all good night.

Edam - yes £12bn is a lot of money. And the average smoker dies 12 years prematurely. Unfortunately they tend to spent a couple of years sick before they do which costs, but apparently, across the economy, it's a jolly good thing smoking in economic terms.

Not only do these folks pay tax on smoking, they pay into pensions and then die before taking much of the money out.

I have to say since the smoking ban I've been really happy. I can go out, confident I will be able to sit down and eat knowing I won't have to worry about cigarette smoke (unless I venture into the buttland of a pub garden). But every single time I go past the maternity unit, there are very pregnant women smoking and I wonder if they are the people that will get this information.

let's tax food because fat people eat too much of it and ruin their health.

Agree Lulu and SSN.

There are some pretty huge egos on this thread.

Anyway, back to the point.

Of course a ban is unworkable. The stats are pretty frightening though. Perhaps more pushing or automatic dispensing by mw's of nicotine patches/quit aids would help?

I agree with others who said that comparing post a thread like this with doing the same re formula feeding was somewhat disingenuous. It's certainly not comparable. No-one has to smoke in order to 'survive'.

Giving up smoking is difficult for some people. It wasnt so for me when I finally decided it was time. I'd made some half-hearted, half-cocked attempts prior to, but I hadnt really wanted to give up, just felt a generally requirement to.

There are very many aspects to the process of giving up smoking. It's not just about the nicotine (which can be an extremely overpowering addiction), its about the habitual nature of it, the lifestyle, the social aspect etc. If there was a fully comprehensive way of dealing with all of these aspects, dealing with the clinical addiction of nicotine would be so much easier.

This is particularly important to women who are pg, who by and large, have lots of other aspects to worry about at the same time as considering quitting smoking.

custy if you've got a problem with me why don't you just CAT me? with a list of the people who've mentioned my supposed animosity towards you as well. and i'll go and find a really nice post i remember leaving for you when you threatened to leave a while back.

I know it's A Good Thing in economic terms, blazing, I've seen the stats.

There's no bloody gratitude from the non-smokers, though. You'd think with the amount we are saving them, out of the goodness of our disease-ridden hearts they'd have a bit more appreciation.

Let's ban posting on Mumsnet because it seems to do bad things for folks rage

I agree that policing and banning wouldnt work, but education should be the way foreward. Some of the taxes raised from tobacco could go back into awareness campaigns. It might take years, but the onus should be on health professionals to take a proactive approach and inform about the dangers of smoking, and passive smoking to pregnant women.

However, I stand by my former stance that deliberately ignoring facts/information and keep smoking, or committing serious substance abuse (cocaine, heroin) in pregnancy should be classified as neglect towards the unborn baby, and should be monitored and help and support offered. (Not Jail, that would be ridiculous)

Ah yes, edam. I am highly ungrateful

But thats because my tax dollars count towards the payment of SSP that all you smokers also get more of because smokers statistically have more time off sick than non-smokers do

i rather thought it was the other way around. I don't have the CAT Facility. But if i did i don't think i would use it to ask you why you have been like this tonight.

Thank you for posting a really nice post some time ago. Although i don't remember everything that everyone posts, i think at least you have put it out there that it is something that you do - for others to read, which of course is a good thing. .

it's a controversial thread. There are bound to be arguments. I'm not sure what's goingon here

I didn't say that xXxspookyxXx - what I said was if you were in that situation one may not have access to as much information and help as others might be.

Let's be realistic - society is not exactly kind to single mums period. If you live where I live and attend a country GP practice which is very much predominantly middle class white people, you will probably find the level of information and support provided when pregnant is better than an overcrowded, inner city surgery where a single mum struggles to get an appointment let alone advice.

It disgusts me that we do have massive health inequalities in this country and that people don't acknowledge it because it's not politically correct to do so. Some people have a majorly shit time (and no, it's not just single mums) simply because they conform to a stereotype that some others don't value enough.

I came from that background. I know that when I lived in a city, there was an assumption that medical care was crisis centred (ie if you weren't half dead, you were expected to just muddle through) and proactive health care was pretty much non-existent.