A new study has shown that children who live in areas where there’s a lot of traffic pollution have a lower IQ than children who live in areas where the air is clean.

Vehicles emit a substance called black carbon. The researchers found that of the 202 8-11 year old Boston children they studied, those who scored lower in the intelligence tests that were set were more exposed to black carbon.

The effects were likened to those experienced by children whose mothers smoked 10 cigarettes a day while pregnant with them.

The study’s lead author, Dr. Shakira Franco Suglia, stated that short of moving away from a heavy-trafficked neighbourhood, there wasn’t a lot that people could do to curb its effects.

(source)