Use pram covers 'to protect babies from air pollution'

Traffic lights and bus stops were pollution hotspots and there were higher levels of pollution in the morning compared with the afternoon, the University of Surrey study said..............

Dr Prashant Kumar, lead study author from the University of Surrey, said his findings were a warning to parents. "Young children are far more susceptible to pollution than adults, due to their immature and developing systems and lower body weight," he said.

"Essentially, children could be at risk of breathing in some nasty and harmful chemical species such as iron, aluminium and silica that form together the particles of various size ranges."

Dr Kumar said the best way to stop this happening was to use a barrier between children in prams and the emissions from vehicle exhausts, especially at traffic lights, crossroads and bus stops. He said his research team was also trying to find a way to clean the air around children sitting in their prams.

Please note that the above contents are some of the excerpts from the BBC online article. The full article can be read here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39216807

The story is based on our recent article:

Kumar, P., Rivas, I., Sachdeva, L., 2017. Exposure of in-pram babies to airborne particles during morning drop-in and afternoon pick-up of school children. Environmental Pollution, Online link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.02.021