We’ve long known that pollution is harmful to the planet but slews of recent studies are finding that what pollution may harm the most is us. Pollution has been linked to premature and underweight babies, obesity, and now, according to a new study from the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, intelligence. The study analyzed 249 children who’s mothers had worn backpack air monitors for 48 hours during pregnancy and found that those children exposed to the most pollution before birth scored about four to five points lower on IQ tests than the children who’d had less exposure. The mothers and children all lived in the New York City area and had some level of exposure to things like vehicle exhaust and industrial air pollution from factory emissions.

Critics of the study are citing the study’s small size (study researchers admit they need to further research with more participants to solidly confirm the links) and the other factors at work in the lives of the children in the study, who were from low-income families. The scientists behind the study, however, say that they’ve examined other elements (including the home learning environment and post-birth air pollution exposure) and still believe the prenatal exposure to pollution had an effect. Click here to read more

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