January 06, 2007
BY JAMIE KOMARNICKI CANWEST NEWS SERVICE

Pregnant mothers unable to give up their smoking habits may be able to use nicotine replacement therapy without harming their unborn children, says a University of Calgary researcher.

“I wouldn’t say nicotine is harmless. But what we know is that the effects are much less severe than the effects of smoke itself,” said Dr. Shabih Hasan, lead researcher in a study published in the Jan. 2 issue of Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. The five-year study found that high nicotine levels in the blood of pregnant rats didn’t negatively affect birth weights, said Hasan, associate professor in the faculty of medicine’s department of pediatrics.

“What we found … was that with nicotine at a very high level in blood, it did not affect the mother’s pregnancy, the baby’s weight, the hemoglobin and the oxygen values.”

Those findings indicate that it’s actually the cigarette smoke additives, not nicotine, that stunts fetal growth when the mother smokes during pregnancy, Hasan said.

The findings could mean that mothers unable to quit smoking could use nicotine replacement therapy as an alternative to smoking while pregnant. The therapy often involves wearing a nicotine patch that releases nicotine into the body through the skin.

While the best option is to give up the addiction, Hasan said, if the choice is between nicotine replacement and smoking, “nicotine is the lesser of the two evils.”
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3/12/06

KERRY Katona was blasted yesterday for claiming her doctor gave her the green light to smoke when pregnant.

The mum of two made the claim as she defended GMTV star Kate Garraway — caught puffing a ciggie weeks before she is due to give birth.

Ex-Atomic Kitten Kerry, 25 — twice voted Celebrity Mum of the Year — said: “My doctor said, ‘If you’re more stressed about not having a cigarette then you are better off having one’.”

She claimed the medic’s explanation was: “The stress of not having one harms the baby more.”

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I don’t think Kerry should be criticised as my friend’s doctor said exactly the same thing to her. She smoked during her pregnancy as it became too stressful too quit. It is the doctors who should be blasted if anti-smoking campaigners do not agree with what the doctors advise.
Heidi Keranen

I'm afraid Kerry is right. A few of my friends that are smokers were given the same advice from doctors when they fell pregnant.
Kizzy

I had a little boy 16 months ago and my doctor told me exactly the same thing as Kerry's. That it was better to smoke a few a day than get really stressed by not smoking, but Kerry probably shouldn't have said it publicly as if you can stop that's the best thing for the baby.
I managed to just smoke one a day while pregnant but that's still one too many in my opinion.
Helen Jones

Apparently it is safer to smoke while pregnant be cause of the stress of giving up. People are only slating her because it doesn’t look nice when you see a pregnant woman smoking.
My mate had a baby while smoking and the doctor told her that giving up would do the baby more harm then good, so she just cut down and gave birth to a healthy 7lb 8oz baby.
Name supplied

To be honest I can't stand Kerry Katona, but my midwife said almost the same thing to me. So for once I’m on her side.
Nikki

I too was informed that I could continue to smoke whilst pregnant as long as I cut down on what I was smoking pre-pregnancy.
I was also informed that the patches and gum could be just as bad as smoking a real ciggy.
Amanda Fisk