DEAR DR. GOTT: My daughter is about to have her first child. Both she and her husband smoke, which is of great concern to me. Is my future grandchild in any danger because of their tobacco habits?
DEAR READER: Yes, he or she is. Research has been ongoing for quite some time on this very subject. An associate professor of pediatrics affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital co-wrote a commentary that accompanied the research report.
Physicians, specifically obstetricians, have been advising pregnant women for years of the dangers of smoking to their unborn babies. A woman’s body does not act as a filter system protecting her fetus from the toxins in tobacco. [Read more...]