Environment
Climate Change Could Be Linked to Low Birth Weights
Researchers believe less rain and more hot days are affecting pregnant women.
There’s ample evidence climate change will likely affect our children’s health—breeding stagnant, lung-punishing air, for instance, and possibly doubling the pollen count by 2040. But is it possible the warming world will hurt newborns before they even have a chance to live in it?
Researchers at the University of Utah and elsewhere say that could be so. They’ve analyzed 70,000 births in Africa from 1986 to 2010 and found that climate change could be lowering birth weights. Specifically, they believe women in places with declining rainfall and an increase in hot days are having more underweight babies (defined as those below 5.5 pounds).