Editorial: Special Issue on Developmental Effects of Smoking, Vaping and Cannabis Use
Despite many years and dollars spent on public education to expose the dangers of tobacco smoking and second‐hand smoke, smoking persists. Not only that, we now worry about the potential dangers of third‐hand smoke (the residue left on surfaces where smoking has occurred), devices offering new ways to smoke (vaping) and the legalization and resultant expansion of the many ways to use cannabis. New research is expanding the vast literature on, and revealing new adverse effects of exposure to tobacco smoke during pregnancy, while nascent research on vaping and cannabis use in pregnancy is just beginning to emerge. Vaping and cannabis are perceived by many to be safe for use in pregnancy, but public health and medical organizations have issued strong warnings against both. This special issue presents focused reviews that lay out what we know about some of the effects of these exposures during pregnancy and the vulnerable adolescent years (Figure 1), and the diverse approaches used to elucidate these effects.