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Restrictions on smoking lead to improvements for pregnant women, reducing rates of premature births, researchers say today. A study finds a close link between three phases of smoking bans in Belgium and falls in the number of premature babies. Writing in the British Medical Journal, the researchers say each ban was linked to a reduction [...]

There are massive differences around England in the risk of women smoking to the end of pregnancy, according to figures published yesterday. Although rates of smoking in pregnancy are falling slowly, in the north-east as many as one in five mothers is still smoking by the time they give birth, according to the NHS Information [...]

November 16 – There was growing pressure for UK governments to ban smoking in cars today – as experts warned that non-smokers face massive risks from the habit. The government of Northern Ireland agreed to consider the proposal – while at Westminster an all-party group of MPs backed the idea. The British Medical Association released [...]

August 17 – Efforts to persuade pregnant women to give up smoking have made massive strides in the last ten years, according to figures published yesterday. The impact of smoking among young women has caused concern – but the latest figures show that thousands now use the NHS Stop Smoking Services. In the last year [...]

March 19 – Efforts to thwart tuberculosis are being hampered by increased rates in drug resistance and other risk factors such as smoking and diabetes, experts warned yesterday. Writing in The Lancet, Professor Alimuddin Zumla, of University College London Medical School, UK, and Dr Stephen Lawn, from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, point [...]

British women over the age of 60 are facing massively increased rates of lung cancer because of the spread of smoking, researchers warned today. In 2008, more than 15,100 women of this age were diagnosed with the disease – nearly three times as many as 30 years earlier, according to Cancer Research UK.Experts said the [...]

Using cannabis increases the risk of developing serious mental illness, researchers warn today. A team of researchers led by Professor Jim van Os from Maastricht University in The Netherlands, looked at the rate of “subclinical” psychosis – that is, below the level needed for a clinical diagnosis.They point out that cannabis is consistently linked with [...]

Young women with high pressure jobs face a greater risk of developing heart disease than their older counterparts, researchers said today.  The findings suggest that the youngest workers may find it harder to adjust to the stresses of a tough work-place than more experienced staff. British experts today said the findings could reflect the way [...]

Most parents would back a ban on smoking in cars with children present, campaigners said yesterday. The British Lung Foundation unveiled the statistic as it stepped up pressure for a ban on children in cars being exposed to tobacco smoke. It said a ban would spare tens of thousands of children from the misery of asthma. [...]

Women smokers outnumber men in growing numbers of countries – often because sellers are allowed to depict it as “glamorous”, global campaigners warned today. New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Chile and Bulgaria are among these countries, according to the World Health Organisation. WHO said it highlighted growing rates of tobacco use among women as it launched [...]