LONDON (Reuters) - Men who smoke undermine the efforts of their pregnant partners to quit smoking for good, according to survey results released Tuesday.

The study by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund showed that women who tried to quit smoking during pregnancy felt their smoking ``better halves'' were unsupportive and had double standards. Most women took up smoking again after the baby was born. Sue Ziebland, one of the authors of the report, said the best support men could give was to quit smoking themselves. ``Women feel unsupported by men's 'do as I say, not as I do' attitude when their partners continue to smoke, but encourage them to stop,'' she said. The study uncovered four common strategies employed by men who carry on smoking during their partner's pregnancy. Men were said to be hypocritical, urging the woman to quit for health reasons but refusing to do so themselves, or non-interventionist, smoking in front of her without second thought. Women were also annoyed by so-called ``secret smokers'' who did not smoke in front of their pregnant partner, and ``cheats'' who said they would share the burden of pregnancy by quitting but cheated by smoking elsewhere. Professor Gordon McVie of the Cancer Research Campaign said that, traditionally, health education messages focused on encouraging pregnant women to quit. ``But this study suggests that pregnancy is an ideal time for both parents to kick the habit and couples are more likely to succeed if they make a joint attempt,'' he said.

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