[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/7273\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EAir pollution affects brain development - but when does the damage start?\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis epidemic in the 1980s might bear some striking similarities to the coronavirus pandemic, but there was no infection to blame. The city was suffering from outbreaks of asthma.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBetween 1981 and 1989, 26 outbreaks of asthma were reported in the Spanish city with many cases centred around the harbour. Local scientists eventually discovered that \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/2710172\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Ethe cause was soybean dust released\u003C\/a\u003E into the air when the cargo was unloaded.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe solution was simple enough \u2013 filters to cover the soybeans silos \u2013 however, the episode left a remarkable legacy in the scientific community in Barcelona, which could help us to identify a significant risk to brain development in children.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe asthma epidemics were initially thought to be due to air pollution from burning fossil fuels, so the researchers created a register to map its potential impact. This became the basis for the local researchers to continue to monitor the effects of dirty air over the decades since.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough the immediate effect of air pollution on asthma was much weaker than the soybean dust, it was affecting the population on a daily basis. Over time, air pollution appeared to be responsible for more emergency room admissions for asthma than the acute soybean-related epidemics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAir pollution\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Jordi Sunyer from ISGlobal, the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, was one of the researchers who discovered the link to soybeans and investigates the effects of air pollution.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In the 80s, home combustion of coal was a major problem, and the levels of sulphur oxide were very high. This was controlled but now, especially in Europe, there is a dramatic increase in traffic and diesel combustion,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs well as changes in the type of pollution, he says that we have come to understand better the extent of damage caused by air pollution, beyond the lungs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In the 90s, it appeared that the cardiovascular system was a major target of air pollution. Then in 2008, there were studies in animals that showed an effect on the brain,\u2019 he said. \u2018This was because the size of the particles of pollution was so small that they could go into the brain and cause neuroinflammation.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2015, Prof. Sunyer and his colleagues published research showing that higher pollution levels were linked to a 5% decrease on \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosmedicine\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pmed.1001792\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Etests of working memory in children\u003C\/a\u003E aged 7 to 10.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018This is the same amount of change that was found several years ago between children with high levels of lead in the blood and children with lower levels in the blood,\u2019 said Prof. Sunyer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen the lead pollution from petrol was found to be causing widespread harm, unleaded petrol was introduced from the 1970s. At an individual level, a 5% decrease on a test would not be enough to make an obvious impact, but on a population level it could have a significant economic cost says Prof. Sunyer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe adds that 90% of brain development happens by the age of four, so he is now following up on his previous study to understand the effects of air pollution at the earliest stages of life.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe is leading the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/785994\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EAIR-NB\u003C\/a\u003E study to monitor the exposure to air pollution before the child is even born. The research team is recruiting 1,200 pregnant women in Barcelona to the study and measuring the pollution levels in their homes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETaking into account other possible factors, such as physical activity, noise pollution and the mother\u2019s stress hormones, they will try to identify differences between the children as they develop. The researchers will be imaging their brains at the third trimester of pregnancy and from one month after birth using MRI scans.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAutism\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnother concern is that air pollution can raise the risk of developing autism spectrum disorder. Several \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25522338\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Estudies in the US\u003C\/a\u003E suggested that there is a link to air pollution, but the results from \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ehp.niehs.nih.gov\/doi\/full\/10.1289\/ehp.1408483\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Ea big European project\u003C\/a\u003E found no connection. However, this research brought together results from different studies that used different methods, which may have affected the results.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Juana Maria Delgado-Saborit, a visiting researcher at ISGlobal, hopes to help investigate this issue by using data on 18,000 children in the UK. These children are all part of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cls.ucl.ac.uk\/cls-studies\/millennium-cohort-study\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EMillennium cohort study\u003C\/a\u003E and have been regularly monitored and tested over the past two decades.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I thought that maybe with that big cohort there might be the chance to see if there is a real problem in UK and Europe, or if the Americans are seeing a difference because of the composition of the pollution,\u2019 she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor a project called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/750531\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003ECOGNAC\u003C\/a\u003E, Dr Delgado-Saborit is using health information collected on the children up to the age of 14 to look for diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder or traits of the condition. By overlaying this information with maps of pollution during pregnancy and in their early years, she hopes to identify any potential links.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe analysis of the data is ongoing, but her early results suggest that there is a connection with levels of ozone in the air. Ozone is an irritant that is formed by a reaction involving nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, common pollutants from road traffic.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChange\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBoth Dr Delgado-Saborit and Prof. Sunyer draw parallels to the change in perspective of the damage caused by air pollution following the thousands of deaths from the Great Smog of London in 1952.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018From the industrial revolution, we knew that we were making our environment dirty, but we didn\u2019t have the evidence (of harm). When we started measuring the changes, we started to realise that something was happening, especially when we had the episode of London smog. That kick-started (the realisation) that the air is having an impact on our health,\u2019 said Dr Delgado-Saborit.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Then there was the Clean Air Acts and the air was cleaned. In the 80s it was thought that the levels (of pollution) were safe for health,\u2019 said Prof. Sunyer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJust like the 1950s, there is widespread understanding today that our dirty air is not safe, but we still do not know how great an impact it has on our lives. While there is acceptance that children at school should not be exposed to high levels of air pollution, Prof. Sunyer says, the results of their research could have far-reaching consequences:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018If we found pregnancy and early life is a more vulnerable period, I think this would force society to find new ways to live in cities that also protect the health of children.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, compared to putting a lid on soybean dust, this may prove to be a big challenge.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research in this article was funded by the EU. 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