Urban air pollution may affect babies’ genes

New findings from a study of New York City newborns suggests that prenatal exposure to air pollution may be linked to genetic changes associated with an increased risk of cancer.

The study by researchers at Columbia University followed 60 newborns and their nonsmoking mothers in low-income neighborhoods, primarily in Harlem and the Bronx. The exposure to combustion-related pollutants caused primarily by vehicles was measured by backpack air monitors worn by the women during the third trimester of their pregnancies.

When the babies were born, genetic alterations were measured. Researchers found about a 50% increase in the level of persistent genetic abnormalities in the infants who had the higher levels of exposure, said Dr. Frederica Perera, director of the center and author of the study.

“We already knew that air pollutants significantly reduced fetal growth, but this is the first time we’ve seen evidence that they can change chromosomes in utero,” Perera said.

She said the kind of genetic changes that occurred had been linked in other studies to increased risk of cancer.

The study, published in the February issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, is part of a broader multiyear research project started in 1998 that examines the health effects of exposure of pregnant women and babies to air pollutants, pesticides and tobacco smoking.