Tobacco Documents Online

Ob.Gyn. News Jan. 1-14, 1984 .41 Passive Smoking in Pregnancy May Not Be Harmful for Fetus lnternational.Medical News. Service LAS VEGAS - Passive smoking in~ pregnancy may not be significantly harmful to the fetus, Col. John C. Hauth, MC, USAF, said at the annual meeting of the Armed Forces District of the American College of Obstetri, cians arld Gynecologists. In a study of 163 healthy pregnant women at term, the thiocyanate levelss in maternal'' and umbilical cord blood were significantly lower in both the passive smoking and nonsmokingg groups than in the smoking group, said Dr. Hauth, of the Wilford Hall U.S. Air Force Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Tex. Women in the smoking' group, who smoked 1040 cigarettes a day, had a significant elevation of thiocyanate lev- els to 95 mmole/liter, compared with 35.9 mmole/liter in the passive smok- ing group and 32.3 mmole/liter among the nonsmokers. Thiocyanate levels in the" umbilicaU cord blood were also lower among ma- 4 eonard ahn PUBLiCRELATIONS COUNSEL and Associa tesInG ternal passive smokers and nonsmok- ers, ers, with levels measured at 26 mmolel/ liter for passive smokers, 23 mmole/liter for nonsmokers, and 72 mmole/liter for smokers. The results of this study are in con- trast with those of an earlier study ' suggesting that passive smoking im- ` posed significant risk to the fetus. BotK studies used thiocyanate determinations ~ to quantify cigarette exposure in pas- sive smokers because of its long half- ~I life of 13 days, but the current study , used a different method of thiocyanate '' assay. . In the present study, there was a i highly significant inverse relationship ', between' maternal and umbilical thiocy- anate levels and birth weight, the inves- tigators reported. Dr. Hauth's associates in' this study ; were Capt. Richard B. Drawbaugh, Biomedical Service Corps, USAF, Lt. Col. Larry C. Gilstrap IlI„ MC, USAF, Jane Hauth4 and Maj. Wayne P. Pier- I sons Biomedical Service Corps, USAF. j 13 LINCOLN'ROAD •P.O. BOX 223 •GREAT NECK, N.Y. 11022'•(516)482-5715