Every breath they take - will be tested

Those nice people at the National Institute for Clinical Excellence are at it again.

Their latest proposal is to ask pregnant women to take a breath test to prove if they are smoking during their pregnancy.

I've had to deal with a couple of calls on the subject today.

The Mail wanted a quote - which I gave them - but the Today programme (Radio 4) not unreasonably wanted to speak to a woman who has smoked during pregnancy.

Without hesitation, and not for the first time, I recommended Pat Nurse.

Update: Pat tells me she recorded a brief interview but the item, to be broadcast between 7.00 and 8.00am, will primarily see midwives and NICE go head to head.

Update: Fury at smoking breath test for all mothers-to-be (Daily Mail)

I have been slightly misquoted. According to the Mail, 'Simon Clark, director of smokers’ lobby group Forest, said all mothers should be encouraged not to smoke when pregnant'.

What I actually said was, "We wouldn't encourage pregnant women to smoke." There's a difference.

The rest is reasonably accurate - apart from the words "slippery slope" which I swear never passed my lips.

Update: Pat is also on Five Live around 10.30am (Monday).

Update: Angela Harbutt will be on the Jeremy Vine Show (Radio 2) around 1.00pm 12.00.

Update: Angela will also be on LBC; Angela (or Pat) will be on BBC Cambridgeshire; Pat has also done BBC Three Counties and will be on BBC Look North after 6.30.

Comments

[Junican]

Guess what organisation is 'furious' - MUMSNET, for heavens sake!

[Frank J]

MUMSNET? Well, getting a taste of what they'd, no doubt, readily inflict on others.

Slippery slope? You betcha! Don't like it, do they/

[Chas]

Another great performance from Pat Nurse on Radio Five dspite being outnumbered (biased BBC)