Air quality can affect children's IQ, says report

The air quality to which a pregnant mother is exposed can have a negative effect on their unborn child's IQ, according to a new study.

Research conducted by the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University, New York has found that exposure before birth to environmental pollutants - called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - resulted in New York City children possessing full scale and verbal IQ scores that were 4.31 and 4.67 points lower than those with less exposure to the chemicals.

Dr Frederica Perera, professor of environmental health sciences and director of the CCCEH, expressed concern at the findings, which she said could have a detrimental effect on the children's performance at school.

"The good news is that we have seen a decline in air pollution exposure in our cohort since 1998," she said, "testifying to the importance of policies to reduce traffic congestion and other sources of fossil fuel combustion by-products."

Another air quality report was published by the American Lung Association in 2004.
The study revealed that high degrees of minute, soot-like particles are putting millions of people at an increased risk of premature death.

Written by Joseph Hutton