NUMBER OF PREGNANT SMOKERS DROPPED 26 PERCENT IN '90S

WASHINGTON -- The number of women who smoke during pregnancy dropped
26 percent in the 1990s, but hundreds of thousands still smoke while
pregnant -- and more teen-age mothers are among them, the government
reported Thursday.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 13.6
percent of pregnant women smoked in 1996, down from 18.4 percent in
1990. The drop was fueled mostly by strong declines in smoking by
women in their 20s and 30s.

But mothers-to-be ages 15 to 19 have the highest smoking rates during
pregnancy, rates that actually inched up in recent years. The CDC said
17.2 percent of pregnant teens smoked in 1996, up from 16.7 percent in
1994.

Smoking during pregnancy can cause babies to be born smaller, sicklier
and at a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.

Pregnant smokers are using fewer cigarettes: 33 percent smoked at
least a half pack a day in 1996, down from 42 percent in 1990, the CDC
said.

Four states and Washington, D.C., already have reached the
government's goal of having no more than 10 percent of pregnant women
who smoke by 2000. The states are Connecticut, Hawaii, Texas and Utah.

The CDC study was based on data collected from birth certificates in
all but four states: California, Indiana, New York and South Dakota.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry