Inhaling tobacco smoke extremely compromises the health of one’s major organs and can leave drastic changes to the body. Alone, tobacco smoke contains 7,000 chemicals and it is known that approximately seventy of them may cause cancer. Even more unfortunate, smoking increases problems with fertility in women, as well as men. Before even considering having children, smoking would cause the female gametes, or the egg cells, to begin to die off quicker than expected and would then cause menopause to take place 1 to 4 years earlier than its original length.
When a woman is with child while smoking, the risks of not being able to carry the baby to full term becomes even higher. Smoking tobacco continually damages one’s genetic material and can lead to a miscarriage or birth defects in the child. Studies have shown that women who smoke while pregnant may have a pregnancy affected by Down Syndrome or this smoke may cause an ectopic pregnancy - when the baby is not in the correct position to be released - and Preterm labor - resulting in a premature child.
When one smokes, a baby is inhaling poisons like nicotine, lead, arsenic, and carbon monoxide. These poisons then travel to the placenta - which is a tissue that links the baby to its mother receiving all that is taken in. The baby would then be kept from receiving nutrients and oxygen needed to grow. Once again, this can cause the baby to later have large amounts of colds, lung problems, learning disabilities, and growth problems. Thus, inhaling tobacco smoke could cause devastating problems to the body; especially the child that is being carried.
