Teratogens: Tobacco and Illicit Drugs

Teratogens: Tobacco and Illicit Drugs

Tobacco

When a pregnant woman smokes the fetus is exposed to dangerous chemicals including nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar, which lessen the amount of oxygen available to the fetus. Oxygen is important for overall growth and development. Tobacco use during pregnancy has been associated with low birth weight, ectopic pregnancy (fertilized egg implants itself outside of the uterus), placenta previa (placenta lies low in the uterus and covers all or part of the cervix), placenta abruption (placenta separates prematurely from the uterine wall), preterm delivery, stillbirth, fetal growth restriction, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), birth defects, learning disabilities, and early puberty in girls (Kipling et al., 2024).

A woman being exposed to secondhand smoke during pregnancy has also been linked to low-birth weight infants. In addition, exposure to thirdhand smoke, or toxins from tobacco smoke that linger on clothing, furniture, and in locations where smoking has occurred, results in a negative impact on infants’ lung development. Rehan et al. (2011) found that prenatal exposure to thirdhand smoke played a greater role in altered lung functioning in children than exposure postnatally.

Prescription/Over-the-counter Drugs: A woman should not be taking any prescription drug during pregnancy unless it was prescribed by a health care provider who knows she is pregnant. Some prescription drugs can cause birth defects, problems in overall health, and development of the fetus. Over-the-counter drugs are also a concern during the prenatal period because they may cause certain health problems. For example, the pain reliever ibuprofen can cause serious blood flow problems to the fetus during the last three months.

Illicit Drugs

Common illicit drugs include cocaine, ecstasy and other club drugs, heroin, marijuana, and prescription drugs that are abused. It is difficult to completely determine the effects of a particular illicit drug on a developing child because most mothers who use, use more than one substance and have other unhealthy behaviors. These include smoking, drinking alcohol, not eating healthy meals, and being more likely to get a sexually transmitted disease. However, several problems seem clear. The use of cocaine is connected with low birth weight, stillbirths and spontaneous abortion. Heavy marijuana use is associated with problems in prenatal brain development (Gerede et al., 2024). If a baby’s mother used an addictive drug during pregnancy that baby can get addicted to the drug before birth and go through drug withdrawal after birth. Other complications of illicit drug use include premature birth, smaller than normal head size, birth defects, heart defects, and infections. Additionally, babies born to mothers who use drugs may have problems later in life, including learning and behavior difficulties, slower than normal growth, and die from sudden infant death syndrome. Children of substance abusing parents are also considered at high risk for a range of biological, developmental, academic, and behavioral problems, including developing substance abuse problems of their own (Zhang et al. 2023).