Smaller Foetus – Culprit Air Pollution

Posted on Wed Jan 30 2008

By: Praveen Sequeira in Environment

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An alarm bell has been rung for would-be mothers by a group of scientists who claims that air pollution shrinks foetus size. The scientists from Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane found that pregnant mothers having higher exposure to air pollution had smaller foetuses.

The study published in the international journal Environmental Health Perspective took ten years and looked at 15,000 scans of pregnant mothers in Brisbane. And the foetuses monitored were between 13 and 23 weeks old. Mothers exposed to higher air pollution had foetuses with smaller circumference in the regions of abdomen and head. The foetuses also had smaller femur length.

Dr. Adrian Barnett, lead author of the study believes that pollutants such as sulphur dioxide from car exhaust are inversely linked to foetus size. Before Barnett’s study came to the fore, other studies linked air pollution to birth defects. But, Barnett and his teammates have first pointed out the assault of air pollution on foetus size.

Among the previous studies, one study from UCLA School of Public Health has shown that exposure to elevated levels of ozone and carbon dioxide results in serious heart defects during birth. The study conducted in Los Angeles found that risk of birth defects was higher among pregnant women who were exposed to elevated levels of pollutants in their second month of pregnancy. This is a period when heart and other organs begin to develop.

These research findings will have major implications in controlling air pollution and protecting future generation. Maintaining proper foetus size throughout pregnancy and at birth is very important. According to the researchers, birth weight has significant role in later life. Bigger babies have been shown to have higher IQs in childhood and lower risk of heart disease in adulthood. Scientists advise pregnant women to reduce their exposure to higher air pollution for the sake of their posterity.