A study published last week in a medical journal stated that pregnant women who are exposed to high levels of environmental pollutants can have children with lower IQs than youngsters whose mothers lived in less polluted surroundings.
Researchers at Columbia UniversityÕs Columbia Center for ChildrenÕs Environmental Health in New York City calculated in a study of 249 children who were tracked from pre-birth to age 5 that those with the heaviest exposure to airborne chemicals from the burning of coal, fossil fuels and tobacco had IQs that averaged more than four points below those of the others.
Center Director Frederica Perera, the studyÕs lead author, said those findings are similar to lower intelligence test scores of children exposed to lead.
ÒThese findings are of concern because these decreases in IQ could be educationally meaningful in terms of school performance,Ó Perera said.
The findings as published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, suggest there might be a correlation between air pollution and brain development.
Researchers drew conclusions that exposure to high levels of pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons adversely affected IQ scores after taking into account and making adjustments for the mothersÕ education, the quality of the home caretaking environment and exposure to secondhand smoke and lead.
They conceded that more studies are necessary to confirm their initial findings. We believe these initial results are compelling enough to merit additional research funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and private foundations, which supported this study.
Research can go only so far, though.
The heavy lifting will have to be done by policymakers who have the clout to enforce more effective pollution controls and encourage greater energy efficiency and the use of clean-burning renewable resources.
With the help of 21st-century technology and with the increasing availability of solar, wind and geothermal energy, there is no reason why children who are born and reared in the U.S. should still be exposed to unhealthy levels of pollution.
Copyright 2009 Las Vegas Sun
