About 40 percent of pregnant women who smoked before becoming pregnant continued to do so during pregnancy, according to the results of a survey by a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry research group obtained by Kyodo News on Sunday.
The survey showed that most pregnant women who continued to smoke knew of the harmful affect of smoking on the fetus.
The ministry says it takes the results of the survey seriously and will conduct a more comprehensive survey on pregnancy and smoking during the current fiscal year.