Air Pollution: Suspicious Particles Found In Placenta Tissue.

Apply Dutch “Crisis- and Recovery Law” To Health: Lower Pollution Limits And Moratorium Building Projects.

3 April 2019. A direct link has not been established yet, but observations suggest that strange black dots in photographs of placenta tissue could be air pollution particles.

It has been known for some time that dirty air is mainly caused by traffic, and that its toxins enter the body via the lungs and on into the bloodstream and the brain. More and more researchers are concluding that air pollution contributes significantly to not only lung- and cardio-vascular diseases, but also to cognitive and psychological problems, even to strokes and dementia.

According to dr. Ben Bartlett at King’s College London, children born in a more polluted environment face greater challenges later in life. Recently, possible threats to unborn children are also being researched. The observations are troubling.

Prof. Jonathan Grigg at Queen Mary University London says that evidence is mounting of far-reaching consequences of air pollution for children.

Norrice Liu, also at Queen Mary’s, studies placenta tissue and has observed that black dots on photographs are a very similar shape and colour to pollution particles. Their presence does not prove a link with premature birth or lower birthweight but it does suggest a possible mechanism.

The mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks of a ‘public health emergency’, and from next week traffic in London will be confronted with extra charges. He added to the BBC: "One of the things that has troubled me is that because we can't see the particulate matter, the nitrogen dioxide, the poison, you don't take it seriously."

In the Netherlands it is also becoming more and more obvious that it will be particularly unwise for example to still want to cram a big school complex in an area of Amsterdam like the Havenstraat that is encircled by busy roads. Do you want to gamble with the health of your child?

And, have decisionmakers in the Netherlands ever considered turning the ‘Crisis and Recovery Law’ on its head? To apply it no longer exclusively to money-driven projects in order to lower standards, but to acknowledge the health crisis and instead use it to highten standards to better protect citizens?

Link: David Shukman, BBC News, 2 april 2019:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47777103