Pollution harmful to babies ‘ brains

AFP

AFP

Wednesday, 6 December 2017 07:17

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Wednesday, December 6, 2017 07:21

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NEW DELHI | The united Nations has drawn Wednesday to sound the alarm about the dangers posed by air pollution to the developing brains of babies, a scourge that particularly affects the Asian.

The asian continent, which regularly produces impressive images of the “smog” in New Delhi or Beijing, for a total of 16 of the 17 million children in the world under the age of one year who are exposed to critical levels of pollution –at least six times higher than the ceilings considered safe for the health.

India tops the list of countries with the highest number of babies exposed, followed by China, says Unicef in a report entitled “Danger In The Air” made public Wednesday.

The pollution ” will impact the learning of the children, their memories, their language skills and motor “, said to AFP Nicholas Rees, author of the report.

The links of pollution with asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory diseases in the long course are known for a long time.

“But a growing body of scientific research shows a new potential risk posed by air pollution to the lives and futures of children: its impact on their developing brains “, now says Unicef.

The report highlights the relationship between pollution and brain functions ” like memory and verbal IQ and non-verbal, test results, lower scores among schoolchildren, as well as other neurological problems “.

The fine particles of urban pollution can damage the blood-brain barrier, the membrane that protects the brain from toxic substances, exacerbating the risk of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease in the elderly.

Unicef warned also of the risk posed by nanoparticles of magnetite, which is increasingly present in the polluted cities.

These are dangerous to the brain because of their magnetic charge, and are correlated with patients degenerative.

The united Nations is calling on governments to intensify the fight against pollution as well as to strengthen the protection of children, including through the use of facial masks and filtration systems of the air.