Smoking and Pregnancy

Nicotine is the active drug which works on the nervous system. It is the drug clearly responsible for the chemical addiction related to cigarette smoking and the severe craving that occurs in the smoker. Nicotine causes an alteration in heart rate and blood pressure with just one cigarette. This effect is almost immediately noted in the fetus since the nicotine passes from the mother's bloodstream to the fetus. In animal experimentation it has been shown there can be a 44 per cent

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