A new scientific study has concluded that fetuses in their mothers' wombs suffer from pollution, even before they see the light.
In the study, researchers discovered the presence of polluting particles in the lungs of a number of fetuses that have not yet completed, according to the medical journal "The Lancet".
And that's not all, as these polluting particles were found in other important organs in the fetus.
In explaining this, the scientists said that the polluting elements that are emitted from car exhaust enter through the mother’s blood to the placenta and then reach the fetus’s organs during the first 12 weeks.
They believe that pregnant women who live in the most polluted areas face a higher risk of stillbirth and are in a better position to deliver babies with health problems.
The researchers, from Britain and Belgium, studied air-polluted nanoparticles, known as black carbon, to determine if they could reach the fetus.
"We know that exposure to polluted air during pregnancy and lactation is associated with death at birth, premature birth, low birth weight and impaired brain development, with lifelong consequences," said Tim Nauroot, an academic at Britain's University of Aberdeen and co-author of the study.
He added, "During our study, we showed that the number of black carbon particles that enter the mother's body continues to the placenta and then the fetus."