A warning about smoking during pregnancy

January is National Birth Defects Prevention month. The Department of Health and Senior Service reports 18.4 percent of women in Missouri said they smoked during their pregnancy in 2006. The national average was 10 percent in 2005. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, babies born to women who smoke are 1.5 to 3.5 times more likely to have a low birth weight than babies born to nonsmoking mothers. Babies with a low birth weight are at higher risk for serious health problems throughout their lives.

-- From staff reports