It's no secret that much of the U.S. is plagued by heavy concentrations of air pollution, from it's packed cities to its agricultural towns - a prime example being the California Central Valley itself. More and more studies are released ever year on the effects of such pollution - and now, evidence suggests that it may go so far as to encourage stillbirths. According to studies published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine, "a 4 ug/m3 increase in exposure to small particulate matter of less than 2.5 in diameter (PM2.5) was associated with a 2% increased risk of stillbirth, while exposure to nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, PM10 and ozone were also linked to a heightened risk". The data presented has been brought up before, but only recently has it been reevaluated and concentrated into more dependable evidence. Stillbirth rates across the globe remain depressingly high, a shocking estimated 2.6 million children worldwide at 28 weeks or more in 2015. "Stillbirth is one of the most neglected tragedies in global health today, and the existing evidence summarised by [the authors] deserves additional investigation," writes Dr. Marie Pedersen of the Centre for Epidemiology and Screening, from the University of Copenhagen. Air pollution has the capacity to affect both the born and the unborn, from lung cancer to loss of life completely - and the idea of such a possibility proves that the effects of air pollution definitely deserve more attention.
_
_