As per findings of a new study, pollution is a factor that determines whether a child is fat or not before he or she is born.  The research highlights: Exposure to common chemicals before birth, increases the chances that a baby becomes overweight or obese.

This study, conducted by scientists at Barcelona's Municipal Institute of Medical Research, is the first that makes a link between obesity and chemical contamination in the womb. While obesity affects one fourth of all the British adults, one fifth of all the children suffer from it.  Globally, there are at least 300 million obese persons or patients.

Published in the latest issue of Acta Paediatrica, the research was conducted on 403 children born in the Spanish island of Menorca. The method consisted of measuring hexachlorobenzene (HCB) levels in their umbilical cords. HCB, a pesticide banned all over the world, continues to be in the environment and is found in the food. Subjects with the highest HCB levels were more prone to obesity (when they became six and a half years old.) Present advice of the scientists is to have minimum exposure to such types of pesticides that include bisphenol A (BPA). Used in baby bottles and food cans and phthalates, bisphenol is also found in cosmetics and shampoos.

Dr Pete Myers, chief scientist at the US-based Environmental Health Sciences, said: "This is very important. It is the first good study of the effects on the foetus. Its conclusions are not surprising, given what we know from the animal experiments, but it firmly links such chemicals to the biggest challenge facing public health today." The study negates the claim of Conservative leader David Cameron who said that obesity is absolutely a matter of "personal responsibility".