perera: we've been doing this, the very same -- almost identical study i should say -- in krakow, poland. and we have found similar effects of air pollutants on fetal growth and child development as we've seen in new york city. we've also done a study in china and that study is looking specifically at coal-burning emissions from power plants. so we have three studies that are using similar approaches and studying pregnant women and their newborns and then following these groups of mothers and children to look at longer-term effects of early-life exposures. narrator: all of these studies are being conducted with the hope of gaining a far better understanding of the health effects of toxic exposure, but, more importantly, with the hope of helping affected communities. dr. whyatt: if you identify a problem, you can address a problem. and we've seen that in our study. it's the reason we are doing the study. it's one of the reasons i don't get depressed. because if you can show these things, you can take action to prevent them. i'm a positive person. i've seen a lot of successes. i don't see