the placenta allows oxygen and nutrients to pass through the mother to the fetus , examined by the research team .
we do not know whether the particles we found could also move across into the fetus , but our evidence suggests that this is indeed possible , " dr. norrice liu , a pediatrician and clinical research fellow at queen mary university in london who led the research , said in a statement . "
a large study of more than 500,000 births in london , uk , revealed sooty particles in the placentas of each of their babies and researchers say it is quite possible the particles entered the foetuses too .
in august , research revealed london ( cnn ) scientists believe they have discovered the first examples of air pollution traveling through the lungs of pregnant women and into their placentas , potentially reaching their fetuses .
scientists have found the first evidence that particles of air pollution travel through pregnant women ’s lungs and lodge in their placentas .
air pollution harm to unborn babies may be global health catastrophe , warn doctors read more scientists are increasingly finding that air pollution results in health problems far beyond the lungs .
all five were non - smokers and gave birth to a healthy baby after uncomplicated pregnancies .