Avoiding secondhand smoke during pregnancy

Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) commonly called secondhand smoke, can harm a developing fetus and may account for complications during pregnancy and birth. It is now known that non-whites experience more adverse pregnancy effects than do whites from smoking and ETS exposure. In an article published in the March 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers examined whether black, non-smoking women were able to avoid ETS exposure early in pregnancy and the social contextual factors that affected their success in avoiding secondhand smoke.