The dirtier the metropolis, the smaller the children

Newborns with low body weight - less than 2.5 kg - are not necessarily "premature", but are often sicker. The negative effects of such a start in life can manifest themselves as they grow older, and even in adulthood in the form of a tendency to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Experts have previously drawn attention to a possible connection between the number of such babies and the amount of fine particles less than 10 microns in size (PM10) suspended in polluted urban air. However, this connection can only be called a fact now, according to the results of a large-scale international study that collected data on three million children from different countries of the world - from Brazil to South Korea, from France to Australia. Scientists from 14 scientific centers of the ICAPPO community participated in the project.

Air pollutants, solid and small particles, are formed, for example, during the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels in power plants and transport; they are simply blown away from bare turf soil and from construction sites, and are erased from the road surface. These include particles of ash and soot, metal oxides and salts, and drops of unused fuel, which can then undergo quite complex chemical transformations. Given their small size, PM10 is able to penetrate the bronchi and lungs, and sometimes enters the bloodstream.

According to WHO, such microparticles cause almost 9% of deaths from lung cancer, 5% of deaths from cardiovascular pathologies and a host of other problems. It is not surprising that the official WHO recommended daily average concentration of PM10 is 50 µg/m3. m, and doctors are steadily fighting to reduce this norm. However, it is not observed everywhere: in Vancouver, according to scientists, the PM10 content is 12.5 μg/cubic. m, then in Seoul - as much as 66.5.

“In areas with higher levels of such pollution, there is also a higher risk of having children with low body weight,” summarize the authors of the new study. They found that an increase in PM10 levels in the air by 10 µg/m3. m reduces the average weight of newborns by 3 g. Of course, for each specific case the risk looks small, but on the scale of the entire population the effect is quite significant. Especially in those regions where tobacco and alcohol abuse are common and the general health of women in labor is poor.

It is worth saying that on the issue of PM10 content standards, Russia is following its own path. Since 2003, we have had a standard established by the Chief State Sanitary Doctor Gennady Onishchenko at an impressive level of 150 mcg/cubic meter. m. At the same time, in Moscow, according to the capital’s Department of Environmental Management, the level of PM10 pollution usually fluctuates around 33 μg/cubic. m, although during the terrible fires of 2010 it jumped to 500 and even 900 mcg/cu. m.

At the beginning of February 2013, Mosekomonitoring recorded the average daily concentration of PM10 in the air at the level of 0.2-0.4 allowed by Onishchenko - 45 μg/cu. m.