Shopping vouchers 'most effective' way to help pregnant women stop smoking

One-fifth kicked the habit before giving birth when receiving financial incentives in a Cambridge university study, more than twice the rate using traditional services

Pregnant women are more likely to stop smoking if they are given shopping vouchers as a financial incentive, according to scientists.

The study found that one-fifth of women in the scheme had stopped smoking by the time they gave birth, more than twice the rate achieved using traditional support services.

People have this attitude of 'why should the feckless poor who smoke their head off during pregnancy be rewarded?'