Final answer:
Yes, it is well documented that maternal smoking during pregnancy is harmful. Numerous studies and health warnings, including those from the CDC and Surgeon General, detail risks such as premature birth, low birth weight, stillbirth, and SIDS.
Step-by-step explanation:
It is well documented that active maternal smoking during pregnancy has detrimental effects. When a mother smokes, not only is there a reduction in blood oxygen levels for the developing baby, but a series of potential health risks are introduced. These include, but are not limited to, premature birth, low-birth-weight infants, the chance of stillbirth, and an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Research and numerous health warnings highlight these outcomes.
The Surgeon General’s warnings have consistently informed the public of the hazards of smoking, explicitly stating that smoking may complicate pregnancy. Academic studies, like the one by Thakur et al. (2013), specifically associate maternal smoking with increased risks of conditions such as ADHD in offspring. The evidence of these risks is consolidated in reports by authoritative health agencies, including the Royal College of Physicians and the US Surgeon-General.
Surgeon General’s warnings, alongside longitudinal studies and research findings, further affirm the well-established links between maternal smoking and adverse pregnancy outcomes, aligning with reports from the CDC and the American Cancer Society on the harmful effects of smoking on health. Therefore, the harms of smoking during pregnancy are substantially documented and widely recognized in the scientific and medical communities.