Fetuses Vulnerable to Air Pollution
 (HealthDayNews, 6/29/04)

Frederica P. Perera and colleagues at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health in New York City, are conducting long term research into the effects of air pollutants on pregnant women and their babies. As part of this project, the researchers studied 265 pairs of pregnant New York City women and their unborn children, tracking prenatal exposure to carcinogenic air pollutants, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are produced by the type of combustion that occurs in vehicle engines, residential heating and tobacco smoking. Blood samples from the mothers and the umbilical cords of the newborns revealed that although PAH levels in the fetuses were ten times lower than in the mothers, both sustained comparable DNA damage. The scientists concluded that the fetuses are more sensitive than their mothers to health risks from air pollution. These findings suggest that poor air quality may pose a profound danger to the unborn.

(Environmental Health Perspectives, June 2004).