Air pollution is everywhere without you noticing much. The soot particles even manage to penetrate the organs of unborn babies, according to Belgian-Scottish research.
“Previous research by our team has already shown that soot particles can be found in the placenta in all trimesters of pregnancy,” Hasselt researcher Tim Nawrot tells RTL Nieuws. “Now we see that those soot particles don’t stay there, they end up in the organs of the fetus.”
The particles were found in the brain, lungs and liver. “This means that these nanoparticles come into contact with the entire network of cells and organs in the fetus’s body via the brain and can interact with them.”
Air pollution has previously been shown to increase the risk of premature birth, low birth weight, and poor brain development. This new study shows once again that air pollution from burning fossil fuels is harmful to the unborn baby.
