UK (Commonwealth Union) – The damage of atmospheric of human health has long been accounted for however a recent study has revealed that its impact causes damage even before babies take their 1st breath.
The findings demonstrate that unborn babies have atmospheric pollution components in developing lungs and other vital organs as early as the 1st trimester. Researchers at the University of Aberdeen, UK, and Hasselt University, Belgium, evaluated air pollution nanoparticles, known as black carbon or soot particles to examine their possibility of going into the fetus.
The ground-breaking results appeared in the Lancet Planetary Health and revealed the newborn baby and its placenta are exposed to air pollution black carbon nanoparticles equivalent to maternal exposure. These nanoparticles are capable of crossing the placenta into the fetus of the womb from the 1st trimester of pregnancy and enters developing organs, such as the liver, lungs, and brain.
Black carbon gets into the air from internal combustion engines, coal-fired power plants, as well as others that burn fossil fuel and a key component of particulate matter that’s an air pollutant. How these nanoparticles bring about health ailments is not clear, although partly as a consequence of chemicals they are coated with during combustion.
Earlier research conducted at Hasselt University revealed that black carbon nanoparticles enter the placenta, but there was no proof these particles went into the fetus, which the latest study confirmed and researchers have indicated to be concerning.
“We know that exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and infancy has been linked with still birth, preterm birth, low weight babies and disturbed brain development, with consequences persisting throughout life,” said Professor Tim Nawrot. He further stated that the findings indicate the quantity of black carbon particles that enter the mother are passed equally to the placenta and the baby which indicates the need for air quality regulation to recognize this transfer for gestation and take measures to protect the most vulnerable states of human development.
