French hospitals have begun a study to determine if a financial incentive would help persuade mums-to-be to quit nicotine while pregnant.
Pregnant smokers who commit to giving up will be paid a series of €20 (around $30) vouchers, which could add up to €300 (around $500) if they do not start smoking again.
The study, launched in March, will see 17 hospitals in cities across the country undertake a 36-month trial. Participants must be at least 18-years-old, no more than four and a half months pregnant and smoke a minimum of five manufactured or three rolled cigarettes per day. They also need to want to quit smoking.
Participants are not allowed to use cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, or other tobacco products, and must agree to frequent testing. They will attend a session with a smoking cessation specialist during their scheduled pregnancy check-ups. They will be rewarded with the vouchers at the end of each session.
In a similar study undertaken in 2015 Glasgow researchers found that of the 612 participants, 22.5 per cent of those offered financial incentives stopped smoking, while only 8.6 per cent of those who only met with a smoking cessation specialist quit the addiction.
The French anti-smoking scheme is reminiscent of a controversial British trial in which women were offered a financial incentive to breastfeed.
Although the scheme caused a huge stir among parenting groups, data from the trial looked promising. Mothers who took part in the project said that they spent the vouchers on groceries, nappies, baby clothes and toys.
One mother told the Guardian: “Sometimes you think ‘should I just move on to the bottle now?’ and then I think ‘oh but then I won’t get the money to be able to treat them’, so it does help.”
According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), around 18,000 unborn babies are exposed in the womb to toxins from tobacco smoke in New Zealand each year.
