Air pollution from London traffic is affecting the health of unborn babies

Exhaust fumes, soot and dust spewed out from road traffic in the UK capital may be putting the health of thousands of unborn babies at risk. The findings come from a study of more than half a million infants, which suggests that pregnant mothers exposed to air pollution from London's busy roads are more likely to give birth to babies that are underweight or smaller than they should be. When it comes to traffic-related noise, however, they found no conclusive effect on babies' health. According to the authors, cutting the average concentration of fine particle pollution emitted by the city's road traffic by just 10% could prevent around 90 babies a year (3% of cases) being born with low birth weight. They add that the findings could be applicable to other cities in the UK and across Europe with comparable levels of road traffic pollution, highlighting the need for environmental health policies to improve air quality in urban areas. Making the connection. Previous studies have shown a link between air pollution, pregnancy complications and childhood illness, but studies of noise pollution in pregnancy have provided conflicting results.