The UK s National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is proposing that all pregnant women receive breath tests to determine whether they smoke or have been exposed to secondhand smoke. The new recommendation aims to curb adverse health effects in newborns born to smoking mothers.
Currently, pregnant women are asked about their smoking habits by midwives and general practitioners. In its present form, this is a policy we can endorse. However, by testing for smoking or secondhand smoke, you run into issues of government intrusion and privacy issues, says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross.
ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan adds, These women don t need to be told smoking is dangerous they already know that. They continue to smoke because they re addicted and having another health care professional scare them is not needed. Rather, they need effective guidance and access to low-cost smoke cessation aids.
Despite teetering on the edge of invasion of privacy, if the new NICE regulation can help heavily addicted pregnant smokers find effective ways to quit, perhaps its benefits can outweigh the costs, says Dr. Ross.