Umbilical discord

a recent study conducted in Delhi has found alarming levels of metals such as lead and cadmium in several placental tissues. This has sharply highlighted the hazards of air pollution as these metals are both toxic and often, are the cause many irreversible health effects. The threat unborn babies face due to urban air pollution is more than clear now.

The study was conducted in 1997 at the Indian Council for Medical Research's ( icmr 's) Institute of Pathology in Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. It involved 101 women who delivered at the hospital's department of obstetrics and gynaecology. It was conducted by S Sriramachari, together with A K Jain and J K Sindhu of the Institute of Pathology, S K Das of Safdarjung Hospital's department of obstetrics and gynaecology, and S Bapu Rao of icmr 's National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

In the 82 samples analysed so far, the average values of lead were 2.35 (