Air pollution can be harmful for the fetus: Study

NEW DELHI: A recent study conducted by the scientists at Hasselt University claims that exposure to air pollution during pregnancy can result in pollution particles reaching the fetus through the placenta.

As per the study published in the ‘Nature Communications’, this could negatively affect the baby’s health throughout their entire lifespan. Diseases may originate in the fetal stage as the result of in utero environmental exposures.

Researchers found that when pregnant women are exposed to pollution – due to combustion of fossil fuels, such as diesel-powered cars or the burning of coal can make their way from the lungs to the placenta and may reach fetuses directly. Earlier studies have proven that air pollution has resulted in increased miscarriages, premature births and low birth weights among infants.

Researchers analysed 25 non-smoking women in the Belgian city of Hasselt who when they were about to give birth. Immediately after giving birth, the researchers collected the women’s placentas to study the side facing toward the fetus where they found black colored carbon particles accumulated. This showed that inhalation of polluted air not only effected the health of women but their fetus also.