sample="quota" bates="2501241846" isource="pm" decade="1970" class="ui" date="19721223" SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY CAN RETARD A CHILD'S LATER GROWTH AND LEARNING ABILITY. - Only a few researchers have examined this question and their findings are generally inconsistent. - A recent study by a researcher (who believes smoking is harmful) failed to find any significant differences in either physical measurements or intellectual ability of children born to smoking mothers as compared to those of nonsmoking mothers. The findings of that study are similar to those of two American researchers on this same subject. - Even an update of an ongoing British study frequently cited in support of such claims produced recent findings that cast further doubt on a casual relationship between the smoking habits of mothers and developmental differences in their children. The investigators, who are opposed to smoking, noted that background factors such as social class substantially reduced developmental differences between children of smokers and nonsmokers and they concluded that other factors, not yet identified, might cause the relationship to disappear altogether. 1. Lefkowitz, Monroe, "Smoking During Pregnancy: Long-Term Effects on Offspring," Developmental Psychology 17 (2) : 192-194, 1981. 2. Hardy, Janet and E. David Mellits, "Does Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy Have a Long-Term Effect on the Child?," Lancet II: 1332-1336, December 23, 1972. 3. Fogelman, Ken, "Smoking in Pregnancy and Subsequent Development of the Child." Child: Care, Health and Development 6: 233-249, 1980