Originally published December 12 2005
USC researchers discover that high ozone levels jeopardize fetuses
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine at USC have found that expectant mothers breathing air polluted with ozone are at great risk of birthing babies with signs of intra uterine growth retardation, which results in underweight births.
Women who breathe air heavily polluted with ozone are at particular risk for having babies afflicted with intra uterine growth retardation-which means babies only fall within the 15th percentile of their expected size.
The findings were published early online on the Web site of Environmental Health Perspectives, the journal of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
"These findings add further evidence that our ozone standards are not protecting the most vulnerable members of the population," says Frank D. Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School and the study's senior author.
Gilliland and his colleagues examined birth records from 3,901 children who were born in California between 1975 and 1987 and participated in the Children's Health Study.
Researchers with the USC-led Children's Health Study have monitored levels of major pollutants in a dozen Southern California communities since 1993, while following the respiratory health of more than 6,000 students in those communities.
The researchers gathered data such as the children's gestational age and birth weight, as well as their mothers' zip code of residence at birth.
Then they determined levels of ozone, carbon monoxide and other pollutants in the air in each zip code of residence during each mother's pregnancy.
And the association was even stronger for ozone exposure over the second and third trimesters, Gilliland says.
In addition, for each 17 ppb increase in average daily ozone levels during a mother's third trimester of pregnancy, the risk of intra uterine growth retardation increased by 20 percent, the scientists report.
Researchers suspect that inflammation from O3 may prompt the release of certain chemicals into the bloodstream, which may harm the placenta.
Carbon monoxide, meanwhile, is an odorless gas that primarily comes from vehicle exhaust.
In high concentrations, the gas can harm healthy people; and in lower concentrations, it can hurt those with heart disease and can affect the nervous system.
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