Impacts of industrial pollution exposure echo across generations

Exposure to industrial pollution during pregnancy may ripple across generations. New evidence shows a child faces a higher risk of intellectual disability if a grandmother lived near clusters of industrial facilities while pregnant with one of the parents.

The risk grows with the density of facilities, and signals are strongest through the maternal line, according to the study.

The work, led by the University of Utah, draws on rare multigenerational records to test whether historical industrial pollution can shape neurodevelopment in descendants who were never directly exposed in the womb.

Air pollution’s future toll

“We know that breathing polluted air is dangerous for our own health now, but it’s scary to imagine what it could do to people’s unborn grandchildren,” said Sara Grineski, professor of sociology at the University of Utah and lead author of the study.

“The evidence from this study and many others force us to ask: What will be the legacy of the decisions that we make today?”

About one percent of Americans live with an intellectual disability. Past studies have tied risk to direct fetal exposure to toxins such as lead or mercury. The intergenerational question has been harder to test in people.

“It’s much easier to study multigenerational effects on animals,” Grineski said. “The research in humans is much harder to do – we have longer lifespans, we’re not going to expose people to toxins on purpose, and it’s hard to get data on people who were alive 80 years ago.”

“But it’s really important, especially as you think about intergenerational equity – what do we need to do to protect our future children and grandchildren?”

Historic data on pollution exposure

The team used the Utah Registry for Autism and Developmental Disabilities and the Utah Population Database to identify children born statewide between 2000 and 2014. They selected those diagnosed with an intellectual disability and a control group without such diagnoses.

The population database uniquely retains linked birth certificates and historical addresses for parents and grandparents. This allowed the researchers to pinpoint where families lived during each pregnancy.

To reconstruct industrial exposure, the study tapped Dun & Bradstreet business directories. Those listings include facility locations, years of operation, and North American Industry Classification System codes.

The codes helped estimate health-relevant hazard profiles. Using those data, the team calculated the density of industrial facilities within two to three miles of each residence during the pregnancies of the child’s mother, the maternal grandmother, and the paternal grandmother.

Tracking toxic exposure footprints

Roger Renteria, a doctoral candidate in sociology, and Kevin Ramos, then an undergraduate GIS researcher, led the geospatial work.

“Industrial activity often produces concentrated releases of toxic pollutants that can persist in soil, air, and water for decades,” Renteria said.

“Linking facility data to historical residential addresses makes industrial exposure data especially valuable for studying multigenerational health impacts, which is rarely possible with other environmental hazards.”

Ramos said the process changed how he saw his own neighborhood. “It’s easy to overlook how much our surroundings influence our development and overall health. While working with the data, I discovered polluting industries near my own home that I hadn’t known about,” he said.

“Very few studies have explored this issue, and we believe our work is only beginning to uncover the long-term impacts industrial pollutants may have across generations.”

Generational effects revealed

The analysis found a consistent signal. A child’s odds of intellectual disability rose if any grandparent had lived near industrial facilities while pregnant with either parent.

The association was strongest for pollution exposure to the maternal grandmother pregnant with the child’s mother. The relationship followed a dose–response pattern: higher facility density correlated with higher risk.

The team also estimated the mother’s exposure during her own pregnancy with the child. That allowed them to consider present-day and ancestral exposures together. The results suggest risks can stack across time.

Medicine meets environmental history

Multigenerational effects complicate standard risk assessments. They extend the timeline of harm and the circle of those affected. They also raise questions of fairness. Communities living near industrial zones in the past may still be paying a price through their descendants today.

Grineski argues that health care and environmental agencies should respond. “Ancestral exposures, with present-day exposures, may contribute to cumulative health risks,” said Grineski.

“The multigenerational impacts of toxics must be taken seriously by medical professionals, government agencies, and anyone concerned with protecting future generations.”

Decisions ripple through generations

This is observational research, not a controlled trial. It cannot prove a specific pollutant caused a specific outcome. But the study’s strengths are notable: large linked datasets, verified addresses, and standardized industry codes across three generations.

The authors plan to probe mechanisms in future work. They will examine whether particular facility types, eras of operation, or mixtures of pollution exposures drive stronger effects.

The core message is simple: industrial decisions echo. They can shape risks for children not yet born when the smokestacks were active. That makes prevention urgent and cleanup more than symbolic. It is a way to reduce harm for families today and ease the burdens carried by their grandchildren tomorrow.

The stakes are summed up in Grineski’s question: What do our choices leave behind? The answer, this study suggests, lies not only in the air we breathe now, but also in the futures we pass along through our family trees.

The study is published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

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