The adverse effects from second-hand smoke may still be dangerous even if smokers believe that they are careful. The cigarette smoke penetrates clothing, hair and even the smokers’ skin. It is impossible to completely avoid the cigarette smoke as it remains on smoker. It is known that cigarette smoke is very harmful for children’s health. According to experts the children of those women who smoke during pregnancy may develop hearing-related deficiency.

At present researches state that they have sufficient evidences that not only nicotine is the accused one, but also have showed the substance that may affect the brain thus causing these deficits.

As stated Raju Metherate, professor of neurobiology and behavior, a constant nicotine exposure during the third trimester can cause to child hearing-related deficiencies. This fact was proved for the first time by the researches that used rats in their latest study. Other tests showed that the probable reason of the deficits was hidden in the brain receptors that are sensitive to nicotine, which appear when humans or animals are subjected to the substance during growth.

Children with auditory progressing deficits may possess a range of hearing-related problems while being exposed to cigarette smoke. They can have incorrect understanding speech in a boisterous environment, also may not understand verbally presented information, and sometimes can’t distinguish similar sounds.

This research is considered very important because it reveals exactly the most dangerous aspects of smoking in pregnancy as for example cognitive hearing problems.

It is not easy to stop smoking, even the majority of smoking women find it very hard to quit during pregnancy period. Often doctors recommend for smoking pregnant women to use a nicotine patch. Because this protects the fetus from the common physical under-development connected with unhealthy chemical substances in a cigarette smoke, as exposure to nicotine is enough to provoke grave problems on its own, especially when is related to brain development.

According to Metherate verbal functions cannot be tested on animals, and the creation of a causal interrelation between prenatal nicotine exposure and auditory-cognitive problems is a significant step forward in strengthening these preceding discoveries in humans.

The experts revealed that nicotine proved to increase auditory function in the adult rats, with only condition that they are not exposed to this substance during development. The experts put electrodes in the animals’ auditory cortex, and then subjected them to various frequencies of sound. Eventually experts found that nicotine made the cortex more responsive to sound if the rats were not exposed to nicotine during development.

At the end the experts concluded that cigarette smoking effect on children is very harmful as at their young age, they are still developing and their respiratory rate is quicker than the adults.

By Kevin Lawson, Staff Writer. Copyright © 2010 TobaccoPub.com. All rights reserved.

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