Tobacco Essay -- social issues

TobaccoTobacco is one of the wind preventable causes of remainder in the unify States. Nicotine, which is an alkaloid derived from the tobacco plant, is a secure chemical that has powerful effects on the human body, especially when administered promptly or at high doses. Prenatal exposure to nicotine is associated with unfortunate reproductive outcomes, including altered neural structure and functioning, cognitive deficits, and behavior problems in the egress (9). At least 20% - 30% of pregnant women argon estimated to mint cigarettes, although hummer is associated with low birth weight, prematurity and infant mortality. In the United States, smoking accounts annually for estimated fetal deaths ranging from 19,000 to 141,000, for 1,900 to 4,800 deaths during or immediately after parturition, and for 1,200 to 2,200 death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (7). Maternal smoking has been implicated in long term deficits in infant mental development and adverse behavioral proble ms in children such as attention disorder. Nicotine crosses the human placenta and has demand effects on the developing fetus. Pre-clinical studies suggest that maternal smoking during maternal quality produces changes on the offsprings neural functioning, including reductions in uptake of serotonin, alterations in dopaminergic systems, alterations in fringy and central noradrenergic neurons, and changes in DNA and RNA synthesis in the intelligence (9). Children prenatally exposed to nicotine consistently score lower in the two subcategories of communicative language and conceptual comprehension. Evidence from studies of human neonates suggests that maternal smoking during maternity is associated with increased rates of neurobehavioral difficulties. Several studies have linked maternal smoking during maternalism with childhood inattention, impulsivity, and motor hyperactivity in offspring. Similarly, maternal smoking during pregnancy has been associated with parent-teacher rat ings of conduct problems in children and a criminal record in issue adults. A study by Yousef Tzabi suggested that cigarette smoking during pregnancy whitethorn be one of the causes of hyperactivity and learning deficits in children. In a lab study with Sprague-Dawley mice, it was shown that hyperactive male pups that were exposed to nicotine prenatally had significantly higher nicotinic sensory receptor concentrations in the... ...ironment is relatively hypoxic, and corresponding cardiac functional deficits would thus contribute to the high relative incidence of fetal mortality. Just as impaired cardiac function during hypoxia in neonatal rats can account for the increase in mortality with prolonged hypoxia, comparable effects in man would yield a mechanism for cardiovascular collapse and consequent brain constipation or death during delivery. The consequences of smoking during pregnancy are very dramatic. If clinicians are able to convince their patients to stop smoking ea rly in their pregnancy, a major impact may be made on the incidence of low birth weight infants, perinatal morbidity and mortality, as hygienic as cognitive deficits and behavioral problems in the offspring. A strong debate has to be made on the issue of tobacco exposure during pregnancy. This could be accomplished by informing women that their infants may not only be smaller than their nonsmoking counterparts, but their infants may also have transient or permanent changes in their lung and brain ultrastructure. A patient who is informed of these come-at-able long-term effects of nicotine on her child may be to a greater extent successful with her smoking cessation.