| Topic: |
Science > Abortion |
| User: |
"Economic Democracy" |
| Date: |
23 Jun 2004 11:22:17 AM |
| Object: |
Poor air 'harms lungs of unborn' (BBC news) |
"When those who talk about the rights of the unborn become
ardent, vigorous, active environmentalists for clean air, they
will gain in respect and will less be thought hypocritical" - Unknown
"This is a very important finding, and the consistency between the
animal studies and those on people gives it greater strength" -Dr.
Bertollini
============= Story:
Poor air 'harms lungs of unborn'
By Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent in Budapest, Hungary
Air pollution can damage the lungs of children even before birth, the
World Health Organisation says.
A report to be published later this year will say animal studies
confirm findings that pollutants can impair lung growth in the womb.
The pollutants responsible are particulates, tiny fragments of soot
emitted mainly from vehicle exhausts.
The WHO says the findings are significant, and show the need for
urgent action to protect foetuses.
" We need to push policymakers to act." --Dr Roberto Bertollini
A WHO team carried out a systematic review of recent research on the
effects of air pollution on children's health and development.
A paper circulated at a conference here of European health and
environment ministers summarises the team's conclusions. The full
study is expected to be published in the autumn in a peer-reviewed
journal.
The paper says: "Findings of various population-based studies are
supported by animal exposure studies, indicating that intrauterine as
well as post-natal exposures to pollutants can lead to impaired lung
growth."
Although pollution was known to cause some other forms of growth
retardation in the unborn, this is believed to be the first
confirmation of damage to the lungs of foetuses.
Dr Roberto Bertollini is director of the division of health
determinants in WHO's Europe office.
Action needed
He told BBC News Online: "This is a very important finding, and the
consistency between the animal studies and those on people gives it
greater strength.
"The pollutants studied in the research were particulates, 60-70% of
which come from vehicles, with diesel engines particularly dangerous.
"We need to push policymakers to act: this is an overall issue of
transport and mobility which now needs to be addressed urgently.
"Very drastic policies to reduce traffic or cut speed limits have
produced results in some European city centres.
"I think congestion charging, which London has introduced, can be a
useful tool.
"Paradoxically, introducing cleaner engines is not a solution, because
the increase in traffic means the pollutant levels remain pretty
stable.
"We have to experiment, we need case studies, and we have to tell
people the magnitude of the problem.
"And of course this is an additional argument for pregnant women to
stop smoking."
One of the most damaging forms of particulate matter is called PM10,
as the particles are smaller than 10 microns in size.
They cannot be filtered out in the nose, and are able to penetrate
deep into the lungs.
Substantial evidence
The WHO paper says there is now "substantial" evidence about the
harmful effects of air pollution on pregnancy and infant health.
It says the evidence is enough to infer a causal relationship between
particulate pollution and respiratory deaths in infants in their first
year of life.
The paper says there is not enough evidence to say that outdoor air
pollution levels typically found in Europe cause childhood cancer.
But it says the number of available studies is limited, and their
results are not fully consistent.
It concludes: "The amount of ill-health attributable to air pollution
among European children is high... current knowledge about the health
effects of air pollution is sufficient for a strong recommendation to
reduce children's current exposure to air pollutants, in particular to
the pollutants related to traffic."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/3832183.stm
Published: 2004/06/23 09:22:52 GMT
============
DON'T MOURN, ACT! WEBSITES FOR ACTION:
http://www.greenhousenet.org/
http://www.gristmagazine.com/dogood/climate.asp
http://www.solarcatalyst.com/
Overview and local actions you can take: http://www.PostCarbon.org
=============
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