A British health official said that some pregnant teen girls are smoking cigarettes in a deliberate attempt to lower birth weight and ease the pain of childbirth, Bloomberg News reported Oct. 6.

U.K. Public Health Minister Caroline Flint reported the trend, saying she had learned about the practice from healthcare workers. Officials said the teens had apparently heard warnings about the effect of smoking on birth weight and misinterpreted the information. "Childbirth is no less painful if your baby is low weight," Flint noted. "So smoking is not the answer; pain relief is."

Babies born to smokers are an average of 7.1 ounces lighter than those born to nonsmokers. But smokers also have a 26-percent higher risk of miscarriage or stillbirth.