Fetuses are now showing signs that they aren't liking the pollution problem in America. The environment can cause changes in a fetus that alcohol, smoking and drug use have been known to cause.
More than a dozen studies have been done that show levels of air pollutants found in urban areas have been recognized and linked to low birth weight, stillbirth and intrauterine growth retardation. It can also impair lung function will the fetus is in the womb, and can cause things like asthma, which can affect the fetus into their grown lives.
"Fetal life and early infancy are now recognized as periods of remarkable susceptibility to environmental hazards," says Dr. David Barker, a British researcher who is widely credited with recognizing the link between low birth weight and later cardiovascular disease.
Some have even found that the environment effects on a fetus can affect their children and their children’s children.
"That means what your grandmother was exposed to could affect your health today," says Jerry Heindel, a biochemist and scientific program administrator at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. "That is what makes this so scary. The data is so scanty at this time that we don't know how strong that is. If it turns out to be true, it could be very important."
It seems as though pregnant women have so much to fear while pregnant, like touching the wrong thing or painting their toenails, and now the environment is a global issue and it is affecting their babies too. It is scaring mothers-to-be to the point where they almost don't want to leave the house, and just sit by their air purifier until the baby is born.
Doctors aren’t trying to scare women; they are just trying to inform the public about the possibilities.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-fetal12nov12,0,2140947.story?page=1&track=mostemailedlink
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