Most women are aware that smoking during pregnancy is a health risk, not just to the baby, but to the mother as well. Now a new study that is being published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that smoking may also cause genetic damage to the fetus.

Doctors at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain), obtained fetal cells from 50 women during routine amniocentesis. Of this group, 25 smoked, and 25 did not. Those who smoked consumed a minimum of ten cigarettes each day.

Test results were startling. Of the group that smoked, the researchers found the rate of abnormalities in the structure of the chromosomes to be 12.1 percent. Within the group that did not smoke, the rate was 3.5 percent.

Researchers identified damage to chromosome 11, the one that is commonly thought to be linked to cancers of the blood such as leukemia. This may indicate that babies born to smoking mothers have a higher risk of contracting these diseases.

Other studies have linked smoking to the possibility of ADHD and other behavioral disorders. Women who smoke put themselves at risk for heart attack and strokes, which can be intensified during labor and delivery.