Air pollution damages foetal chromosomes
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02/03/2005
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Hindu (New Delhi)
The immediate need to reduce vehicular emission levels has been brought out by a recent study which found that exposure of expectant mothers to combustion-related urban air pollution has the potential to alter the structure of foetus' chromosomes. Sixty newborns were studied before reaching this conclusion. Experiments done in the past had also found a link between genetic alterations as a result of urban air pollution and increased risk of leukaemia and other cancers.