A new study from the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) has expectant city moms holding their breath.

CCCEH, whose studies stretch from our beloved Big Apple to lands as far off as China, has discovered that the combination of secondhand smoke and urban air pollution can seriously hamper fetal development. A recently released study, focusing on the infants of nonsmoking African American and Dominican women in Washington Heights, Central Harlem, and the South Bronx, showed that women exposed to polluted air gave birth to underweight babies, with smaller head sizes—on average.

“This is a shocking finding,” said WE ACT [West Harlem Environmetal Action] Environmental Health Director Swati Prakash. “Considering that the women are exposed to ordinary conditions, the level of harm done to unborn babies is striking,” she said.

The center’s study revealed that an expectant mother’s exposure to smoke and polluted air reduced the infant’s birth weight by 7 percent and resulted in a 3 percent reduction in head circumference. As pollution from cars, trucks, buses, and a host of other sources is especially ubiquitous in Northern Manhattan—due to the disproportionate presence of polluting facilities in the area—the findings give added weight to WE ACT’s position that residents are bearing an unduly heavy burden of harmful pollutants.

Thus, while the ills that befoul Northern Manhattan are aptly identified, the struggle to clear the air rages on.

“This study provides additional fodder for WE ACT’s ongoing effort to empower community residents to hold polluters accountable,” said WE ACT’s Executive Director Peggy Shepard. “This has never been a matter of aesthetics—pollutants are placing our kids at a significant developmental disadvantage and impacting their life chances,” she said.

According to Dr. Frederica P. Perea, director of the Children’s Center and principal author of the study, the women’s best bet is to abstain from smoking and limit their exposure to secondhand smoke while pregnant.

The Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health – part of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University – is a leading research organization dedicated to understanding and preventing environmentally related disease in children. The study, part of a broader, multi-year research project, was made possible by research grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as a number of private foundations. Other key investigators on this study include Dr. Virginia Rauh, Dr. Robin Whyatt, and Dr. Deliang Tang, also of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health. WE ACT Executive Director Peggy Shepard is co-director of the Community Outreach and Translational Research Core with Dr. Mindy Fullilove.