All three of Ashley Gaignard’s children were born preterm and at low birth weights. It was a fact that Gaignard didn’t think about much at the time — her children are now in their twenties — because it felt so common among her friends and family.

“I thought that maybe because I was tiny and petite that I would have small babies,” she said.

But she did notice a pattern: Her mom had small babies, so did her siblings. People in her family also had difficult pregnancies, with one of her siblings experiencing a miscarriage and another experiencing life-threatening complications during her labor.

While genetics could play a role, there was another possibility that Gaignard hadn’t considered: her environment.

Gaignard is a lifelong resident of Louisiana’s Ascension Parish. The part of the state where she lives is colloquially known as Cancer Alley, named for the cancer-causing chemicals emitted from the over 200 petrochemical plants and refineries that dot the Mississippi River. Those who live in the most polluted parishes are disproportionately Black and low income.

Until recently, no one had ever studied the correlation between toxic air pollution in the state of Louisiana and poor birth outcomes. A study published last week, in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Health, for the first time looked at the association between toxic air pollution and low birth weight and preterm birth in the state of Louisiana.

It shows that in severely polluted census tracts, residents have a 25 percent higher risk of low birth weight and a 36 percent higher risk of preterm birth versus people in unpolluted tracts. Louisiana and Mississippi have the highest rates of low birth weight and preterm birth in the country, and this new evidence suggests industrial pollution could play a role.

Around a third of Louisiana’s cases of low birth weight and about half of the cases of preterm birth each year could be linked to air pollution exposure, said Kimberly Terrell, lead author of the study and research scientist at the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic.

The study used birth records from the Louisiana office of vital records and pollution data from the Environmental Protection Agency to draw correlations between air pollution and adverse birth outcomes.

“On the one hand, it shouldn’t really be surprising because there’s a lot of research out there that’s already made this connection in other areas,” Terrell said. “So it’s not earth-shattering, but it surprised me what a big proportion of cases was linked to air pollution.”

Read the full article about toxic air by Jessica Kutz at The19th.