MADRID, 21 (EUROPA PRESS)
Exposure to industrial pollution during pregnancy can influence a grandchild's neurological development, according to a study from the University of Utah (United States).
A child has a higher risk of intellectual disability if his or her grandmother lived near industrial facilities during one of his or her parents' pregnancy. However, the likelihood was higher with exposure to the maternal grandmother who was pregnant with the child's mother. Similarly, a higher density of industrial facilities was associated with a higher risk for the grandchild.
Previous research shows that a child's risk of intellectual disability is higher when directly exposed to toxins in the womb, for example, if the mother accidentally ingests lead or mercury. Now, this research, led by Sara Grineski, a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Utah, links the risk of intellectual disability to prenatal exposure to ozone, particulate matter, and industrial pollution.
To conduct this study, researchers used the Utah Autism and Developmental Disabilities Registry and the Utah Population Database to identify children diagnosed with intellectual disabilities, and a population without a diagnosis record, born in any Utah county between 2000 and 2014. The database provided birth certificates with the residential addresses of the children’s parents and grandparents, allowing the researchers to assess the degree of neighborhood industrialization during pregnancy.
They also used North American Industrial Classification System codes to estimate the potential health risks associated with these types of facilities. They calculated the density of facilities within a 3-kilometer and 5-kilometer radius during the mother's and grandmother's pregnancies.
“Industrial activity often produces concentrated emissions of toxic pollutants that can persist in soil, air, and water for decades,” says Roger Renteria, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Utah. “Linking facility data to historical residential addresses makes industrial exposure data especially valuable for studying multigenerational health impacts, something that is rarely possible with other environmental hazards.”
Thus, the study's author concludes that "medical professionals, government agencies, and anyone concerned with protecting future generations must take the multigenerational impact of toxic substances seriously."
