Wildfires pose health risk to pregnancy, experts warn. Here’s what to know

Experts are warning pregnant people about the health impacts of breathing smoke and the potential risks it poses to both maternal and fetal well-being.

Amid the ongoing wildfires engulfing regions of Canada, experts are warning pregnant people about the health impacts of breathing smoke and the potential risks it poses to both maternal and fetal well-being.

From British Columbia to the Atlantic provinces, wildfire smoke continues to billow in the sky, causing poor air quality alerts for many regions, even reaching as far south as North and South Carolina in the United States on Wednesday.

And for vulnerable populations, such as pregnant people, wildfire smoke can pose a greater risk than the average person.

“The global evidence really suggests that if people are inhaling this wildfire smoke, it may impact birth outcomes,” said Matthew Adams, an associate professor of geography and the department of geography, geomatics and environment at the University of Toronto, Mississauga.

Wildfire season typically runs from early April to late October, according to Environment Canada.

As a wildfire burns through forests and grasslands, it produces dense smoke that can be a major source of toxic air pollutants, which can contain fine particles known as PM 2.5 (that are not visible to the human eye). The fine particles have the ability to penetrate deep into people’s lungs and bloodstream, sometimes leading to serious health effects.

“A pregnant woman’s blood will flow through her placenta, and then these particles can mix with the baby’s blood and then get into the baby’s organs and the baby’s lungs,” explained Dr. David Olson, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Alberta.

“And it can set up an inflammatory reaction in the baby. And the baby isn’t as well buffered against inflammatory mediators as the mother is. So then there are all kinds of adverse outcomes,” he said.