Bloomberg News reports that, as per a new study, air pollution particles can reach babies while they are still in the womb. Researchers have found that nano-soot particles of air pollution can reach the womb, wherein babies are still there, and they can also make their way into the different organs of the fetus.
Experts associated with Hasselt University Belgium and the University of Aberdeen stated that their new findings were especially a subject of concern. This is because when the crucial development of organs occurs, the presence of air pollution particles can be detrimental.
As many as 60 mothers and their babies were examined in the Aberdeen and Grampian regions in Scotland. The researchers also analyzed around 36 fetuses that were aborted between 7 and twenty weeks of gestation.
The team of researchers found evidence of ‘black carbon particles. These black carbon particles are referred to as soot particles that were found in the umbilical cord blood, indicating that the particles can cross the placenta. The presence of soot particles in the newborns and all the mothers was reported.
These particles were also found in almost all major organs like the brains, lungs, and liver of aborted fetuses. The level of these impurities was found to have a close connection with the amount of exposure the mother was subjected to air pollution during their pregnancy.
Bloomberg News reports that black carbon particles were also present in the samples of tissues that were analyzed.
Particles are Seen as Early as the Trimester
These particles were visible during the first trimester of pregnancy, and this was the first instance when these black carbon soot nanoparticles were found in growing fetuses. It may be mentioned here that the black particles are the ones that are seen to be emitted from burning biomass fuel, coal, and diesel. It forms a part of the fine particulate air pollution called PM2.5.
