Would-be moms, beware: Smoking e-cigarettes during pregnancy could cause birth defects

Smoking e-cigarettes during pregnancy could cause facial defects in the babies, a study warns. The findings suggested that e-cigarettes pose health risks despite being widely considered a safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes. Researchers exposed frog embryos and samples of mammalian neural crest cells to saline infused with e-cigarette vapour. Frogs, like other vertebrates, are similar to humans embryonically, said Amanda Dickinson, from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in the US. “This means that if a chemical perturbs a frog embryo, it’s likely to do the same thing to a human…

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Would-be moms, breathe easy! Mobile phone use in pregnancy may not affect kids’ brains

Babies born to women who use a mobile phone during pregnancy are unlikely to have any adverse effects on their neurodevelopment skills such as language, communication and motor skills, according to new research which has challenged previous theories. According to researchers, the concern for harm to the foetus caused by radio frequency electromagnetic fields such as those emitted by mobile phones is mainly driven by reports from experimental animal studies with inconsistent results. Researchers found that children born to mobile phone users had an 18% lower risk of low motor…

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