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Study of 3 million infants suggests connection between inhaled particles and birth weight. Pregnant women who have been exposed to higher levels of some types of air pollution are slightly more likely to give birth to underweight babies, a large international study has found. The results are published online today in Environmental Health Perspectives1. Low birth weight — defined as a newborn baby weighing less than 2.5 kilogrammes — increases the risk of infant mortality and childhood diseases, and has been associated with developmental and health problems later in life, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have looked at...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women whose mothers smoked while they were pregnant have a reduced likelihood of developing breast cancer, according to a new study. However, "This observation certainly does not suggest that smoking is beneficial," Dr. William C. Strohsnitter told Reuters Health. "The very small reduction in breast cancer would be offset by the large number of other diseases caused by cigarette smoking."The reason for the finding may be connected to estrogen, which is linked to breast cancer risk. "Clinical studies show that maternal cigarette smoking reduces pregnancy estrogen levels," Strohsnitter, of Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, and...

Hide your smokes and unhealthy contraband. The tyrants of wellbeing are back. Apparently, the Denver City Council is never too busy to intercede with some good old-fashioned social engineering. And soon enough, smoking in restaurants and bars will be banned. It's enough to make a holier-than-thou politician - with pristine pink lungs - shriek with delight. Jeanne Faatz, at this point, is the lone voice of reason on the council. She still believes in trivial things like free enterprise and property rights. She's sort of an outsider. And although she won't admit it on record, I'm certain the other council...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Pregnant women who undergo dental X-rays may raise their risk of having low birth-weight babies, researchers said on Tuesday. The association could be related to exposing the mothers' thyroid, pituitary or hypothalamus glands to radiation, even early in the pregnancy. "Up until now, people assumed that head and neck radiation will not have any adverse effects on pregnant women. They assumed that only direct radiation to the uterus or the fetus would be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes," said Philippe Hujoel of the University of Washington in Seattle, who led the study. But a seven-year review of...

Ronald Bailey'sColumns Happy Birthday, Love Canal (3/24) Weird Science (3/17) Should "Moral Vertigo" Make Biotech Fall Over? (3/10) Earlier Columns March 24, 2004 Happy Birthday, Love Canal Some disasters aren't all they're cracked up to be Ronald Bailey "The profound and devastating effects of the Love Canal tragedy, in terms of human health and suffering and environmental damage, cannot and probably will never be fully measured," began the 1978 special report, Love Canal: Public Health Time Bomb. That idea is still alive: "Love Canal Declared Clean, Ending Toxic Horror," ran the New York Times headline last week. The Times...