Study: Chinese Olympics Babies Heavier

Babies born during the Beijing Olympics in China—when the government was fighting a difficult battle to keep pollution levels under control—were heavier than those born a year before or later, according to a new study that links pollution levels with low birth weights. The study says babies whose eighth month of pregnancy was in August 2008 were 23 grams larger, on average. Report author Zhang Jinliang linked this with pollution cuts (somewhere between 18 and 59 percent), and said that heavier babies weren’t necessarily healthier long-term, but a low birth weight puts children at risk.