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Black carbon from air pollution 'found in placentas'

Air pollution is known to have potentially devastating impacts on children’s health.

BLACK CARBON PARTICLES typically emitted by vehicle exhaust and coal-fired power plants have been detected on the foetus-facing side of placentas, researchers said Tuesday.

The concentration of particles was highest in the placentas of women most exposed to airborne pollutants in their daily life, according to a study in Nature Communications.   

“Our study provides compelling evidence for the presence of black carbon particles originating from air pollution in human placenta,” the authors said.  

The findings, they added, offer a “plausible explanation for the detrimental health effects of pollution from early life onwards”.

Air pollution is known to have potentially devastating impacts on children’s health. 

The biggest risk is for low birth weight, which in turn increases the odds for diabetes, asthma, stroke, heart disease and a host of other conditions. 

But the biological explanation for how and why air pollution poses such a threat to newborns has long puzzled doctors.

“The new study sheds some light on this by showing that inhalation of black carbon particles can accumulate in the placenta,” commented Christine Jasoni, director of the Brain Health Research Centre at the University of Otago in New Zealand.

Scientists led by Tim Nawrot at Hasselt University in Diepenbeek, Belgium postulated that “black carbon particles are able to translocate from the mothers’ lungs to the placenta”. 

Nawrot and his team used high-resolution imaging to examine the placentas of 23 full-term and five pre-term births. 

Women who had been exposed to higher levels of black carbon particles — averaging 2.42 micrograms per cubic metre — showed significantly higher levels of particles in the placenta than ten mothers exposed to a quarter as much.

Critically, traces of black carbon were found on the inward-facing side of the placenta, putting them in direct in contact with the developing foetus. 

There was no evidence, however, of pollution particles in the foetus itself, suggesting the placenta may act as a barrier to the toxins.

“But the black carbon could be damaging the placenta,” said Jennifer Salmond, and an associate professor at the University of Auckland’s School of Environment, commenting on the new findings.

“Poor placental function could explain the low birth weight that has been associated with air pollution in other studies.” 

Children are particularly vulnerable to poor air quality during foetal development, when exposure can result in lifelong changes to development as well as permanent damage to lung tissue.

“Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this study is that black carbon particles from air that is not even considered to be particularly polluted by WHO standards is nonetheless accumulating in the placenta,” Salmond said.

More than 90 percent of children live in environments where the outdoor concentration of airborne pollutants exceed World Health Organization guidelines.

© – AFP 2019

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    Mute Damien Morris
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    Jan 27th 2013, 11:00 AM

    Nightmare

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    Mute ThomasFrancisMeagher
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    Jan 27th 2013, 12:00 PM

    Brazilians are such friendly & welcoming people. Awful to hear of something so sad as this j
    Happening. RIP to all the victims.

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    Mute w7FX9NHY
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    Jan 27th 2013, 9:07 PM

    Such a nice thing to read about us Thomas! Ireland is a great place because I think the same of the Irish people. It’s really hard to understand how come a end of summer night out turns out into a nightmare. Just feel deeply sorry for the families and friends living down there.

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    Mute Derek Byrne
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    Jan 27th 2013, 11:02 AM

    Oh sweet Jesus. Horrific. God bless them.

    139
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    Mute Mike Clinton
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    Jan 27th 2013, 11:01 AM

    So sad,party atmosphere turned to horror..

    124
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    Mute Simon Blake
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    Jan 27th 2013, 11:01 AM

    Stardust MKII. Hundreds of devastated people. Most likely needlessly.

    114
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    Mute Paul Connell
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    Jan 27th 2013, 11:39 AM

    Shocking news .(What’s with the red thumbs ??)

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    Mute Shane Walsh
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    Jan 27th 2013, 12:29 PM

    Bloody hell! I can’t even imagine the panic and horrifying scenes.

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    Mute Lucille Ball
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    Jan 27th 2013, 12:28 PM

    God almighty .. Terrible terrible news.. young people enjoying a nite out.. RIP…

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    Mute Johnny Magory
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    Jan 27th 2013, 12:20 PM

    Yeah RTE says at least 200 dead, death toll will probably rise as they find more bodies today RIP

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    Mute bignazza
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    Jan 27th 2013, 12:07 PM

    I’m hearing figures of 200 dead from the bbc

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    Mute Dr.fury
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    Jan 27th 2013, 2:40 PM

    Every parents worst nightmare waiting up for your kids to come in and then hearing that dreaded knock,my heart goes out to them,terrible tragedy rip

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    Mute mart_n
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    Jan 27th 2013, 2:28 PM

    I can’t imagine a more frightening ordeal. It’s not the first time that hundreds of lives have been claimed by the decision of some idiots to use pyrotechnics indoors either, despite there being no fire-safety plan. The Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island killed 100+… there’s a video of it on YouTube. Things can turn bad real fast in such scenarios.

    It’s often said, but people should really familiarise themselves with exits in nightclubs etc. You don’t have a lot of time to react if something does happen, and most people will instinctively head for the main exit.

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    Mute Mags Horan
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    Jan 27th 2013, 2:35 PM

    Memories of the Stardust tragedy come flooding back… So sad :-(

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    Mute Doreen Mc Allister
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    Jan 27th 2013, 2:05 PM

    So sad rip

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    Mute john stone
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    Jan 27th 2013, 2:28 PM

    My god

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    Mute Caitríona Bolger
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    Jan 27th 2013, 3:17 PM

    Absolutely heartbreaking. So many lives lost.

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    Mute Prince Hector
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    Jan 27th 2013, 2:41 PM

    God help them.

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    Mute Eileen Gabbett
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    Jan 27th 2013, 7:49 PM

    How awful. Shocking news . All young people out enjoying themselves. May they rest in peace.

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    Mute Liam Crowe
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    Jan 27th 2013, 4:13 PM

    Horrific story, such a Tragedy :(

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    Mute Daniel R
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    Jan 27th 2013, 3:59 PM

    Shouldn’t there be a limit to how many can be let in at a given time? The more people you have the longer its going to take to physically get out of the building, even if it’s a big building.

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    Mute Joe OShea
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    Jan 27th 2013, 10:37 PM

    It’s not a problem once you have a sufficient number of fire exits. But in this case, it seems the venue was packed to over double it maximum capacity – an extra 1000 people. Also in Brazil, there is often no emergency lighting over fire exits, so it is difficult to see where the exits are. It seems from preliminary reports that security guards stopped people from leaving, and that crowds were stampeding towards a single exit which became blocked by dead bodies. All the cumbersome regulations we see here is not without good reason.

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    Mute Dick Fearful
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    Jan 27th 2013, 10:46 PM

    Why would God allow such a thing to happen? I think I know the answer.

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    Mute Mary Kavanagh
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    Jan 28th 2013, 4:02 PM

    Horrific thing to happen. My heart goes out to the families and friends of those poor young people just out for a night’s enjoyment and have either died (RIP)or been injured.
    This brings back memories of our own Stardust tragedy here in Dublin all those years ago.

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