Study links pollution to lower birth weight

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-04/uorm-bos042415.php

Public Release: 28-Apr-2015
University of Rochester Medical Center

Exposure to high levels of pollution can have a significant impact on fetal growth and development, that is the conclusion of research appearing today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The study found women who were pregnant during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when pollution levels were reduced by the Chinese government, gave birth to children with higher birth weights compared to those who were pregnant before and after the games.

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In the months leading up to and during the 2008 Beijing Olympics (August 8-24) and Paralympics (September 6-16), the Chinese government launched a series of aggressive measures to improve the city's chronic and notoriously poor air quality. These measures included an aggressive program to curtail pollutions by implementing strict restrictions on automobile and truck use, closing factories, halting construction projects, and seeding clouds to induce rainfall.

These controls - which were subsequently relaxed upon completion of the games - produced a significant decrease in the concentrations of particulate and gaseous air pollution for a 6-7 week period during the Olympic games, including a 60 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide, a 48 percent reduction in carbon monoxide, a 43 percent reduction in nitrogen dioxide, and a reduction in particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter.

These measures created a unique "natural experiment" for scientists to study the impact of pollution on human health. A prior study by this group, which was also conducted in concurrence with the Beijing Olympics, demonstrated that pollutions levels were linked to physiological changes that increase risk for cardiovascular disease, and that these same air pollution reductions resulted in improvements in several risk factors

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