Katharina Buczek
Climate experts have been warning the world about the severe threat that climate change poses for decades.
Unusual weather patterns, natural disasters, rising ocean levels, and increasingly polluted air spaces have affected countless species.
Now, a recent research review published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that these shifts are already impacting children before they are even born.
The review, conducted by Columbia University and Stanford University researchers Frederica Perera and Dr. Kari Nadeau, outlines how unborn children are at heightened risk for pollution and climate-related health issues.
In order to draw this conclusion, the researchers analyzed studies from over seventy sources: including the Global Carbon Project, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more.
Through their analysis, the scientists confirmed that climate change–specifically the concurrence of air pollution and rising global temperatures– will pose a direct threat to children. These threats may result in damaged lungs or even reduced intellectual abilities.
Additionally, Perera and Nadeau explained how breathing in polluted air while pregnant can lead to early births, low birth weights, and even stillbirths. These babies may also suffer from birth defects and irregular brain development.
In turn, the researchers are calling for action from state and federal officials.
“Climate change continues to demand better health care systems and improved access to mitigation and adaptation plans for hundreds of millions of children and pregnant women around the world,” they wrote.
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