Question

How is thalidomide and smoking different in causing birth defects and how are they similar?

Answer 1

Thalidomide has teratogenic effect.Thalidomide upon administration to the pregnant women causes stunted or malformed limbs. This is most severe and leads to embryonic death when drug is taken in early stages of pregnancy when the vital organs of embryo develops and less severe at later stages.where as on the other hand prenatal exposure of infants to smoking causes Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Smoking during pregnancy will alter autonomic nervous system functions. Newborn mothers who smoke during pregnancy have lower beat to beat heat rate during sleep which leads to death.

Both Thalidomide and smoking during pregnancy are similar in causing embryonic defects which may lead to death of foetus although both have different mechanisms and different effects on embryo.