A new study revealed that fetuses can contain black carbon particles in their developing organs as a result of air pollution, as early as the first three months of pregnancy.

The recent study published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal found that both the newborn and the placenta are exposed to air pollution, specifically black carbon nanoparticles, to the same degree as their mother.

Scientists at the University of Aberdeen in the UK and Hasselt University in Belgium studied 60 pairs of mothers and newborns, including infants less than four weeks old.

They examined black carbon, a black soft material released into the air from fossil fuel combustion sources such as internal combustion engines and coal-fired power plants, to see if air pollution could reach the fetus.

What they found was that black carbon particles were present in umbilical cord blood, the blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after the baby’s birth, confirming that these particles can cross the placenta and enter the fetus's bloodstream.

Moreover, this research is the first to discover that black carbon nanoparticles can cross the placenta to the fetus in the womb as early as the first three months of pregnancy.

They then found pollution reaching the fetus's developing organs, such as the liver, lungs, and brain.

The study’s researchers wrote that this is a concerning finding, as the exposure timeframe is key to the growth of fetal organs.

While maternal exposure to air pollution during pregnancy has been shown to result in adverse birth outcomes causing disease later in the child’s life, this study is the first to confirm that these particles actually make their way to the fetus.