Autism is mostly caused by vaccines. Autism is brain injury from inflammation in the brain dueing early development. Vaccines work by causing inflammation. Specifically, its the a,uminum asjuvant used in most vaccines. It travels into the brain and causes jnflammation there.
I’m not sure if I officially suffer from autism spectrum, but I seem to avoid ALL places with loud & noisy conditions/people (but I don’t mind operating a gnarly chainsaw, grinder, or worser), so I would enjoy more American businesses adopting these policies… Except I like to refrain from being a typical stupid consumer , And get caught in those loud noisy commercial consumer traps Leicalike I used to be. Please note: dictation by Siri all mistakes are his!
Recording exposures tells interesting data, but there is no evidence that this has anything to do with autism. The fact that autism is a severe, "either you have it or you don't", condition, is inconsistent with environmental exposure that has a continuous range of severity.
@Jonathan Katz
“The fact that autism is a severe, "either you have it or you don't", condition ...”
Is it, though? Dr. Trasande, quoted here, says that autism is “a very diverse condition — not all kids with autism are alike,” and according to another article, “The autism spectrum disorders encompass a wide range of symptoms, from social awkwardness to a complete inability to interact and communicate.”
https://nyti.ms/2ALwnsu
2
When the Trump administration is supporting money and business over breastfeeding, what is the hope of cleaning up the environment. The U. S. cannot even get the lead out of paint or water (Flint) yet. Many chemicals and preservatives are in vaccines (thimerosal, aluminum, MSG, formaldehyde, squalene) and we have yet to get rid of those.
We need no further research in this area until we have the will of our policy makers to prioritize people/children over business gain. It is a long way off.
1
This is a disgusting, irresponsible article. From the title suggesting the study establishes links to fetal exposure, when we learn (buried) that "the point of the study was not to look at whether a child had been externally exposed to these metals" to language like: What if we can "correct" the "dysregulat[ion] in disease"? "Modify" the biochemical pathway? Administer tests so we can alter the child even before he/she exhibits "behaviors"? Saying you're not blaming the mother while including a litany of what the "individual" should avoid? All, of course, moving towards the ultimate goal: "important gains in reducing autism." Has the NYTimes entirely missed the neurodiversity movement? I can guarantee that this article would not even be published on this little thing called the internet without the minds you would like to diagnose, alter, and modify out of existence. Better the article be on how the language in scientific studies encodes prejudice than this rubbish.
4
"People can reduce some exposures by eating organic produce, and opening windows to recirculate air and get rid of chemical dust, but it would take regulation to get some of these very persistent pollutants out of the home."
It's way past time for the American public to wake up and demand action on all of the pollutants in our environment. There is no time like the present.
4
I've read, repeatedly, that food labeled "organic" is incorrect identified approximately 40% of the time.
1
They should find traces of thimerosal, aluminum, MSG, formaldehyde, squalene, all adjuvants in vaccines. Thank Big Pharma for that...
6
..normally sane, scientifically inclined people seem to refuse to even entertain the possibility that vaccines may be involved ~ the fact that SO many things are being put in the "potential" pot helps the likelihood that vaccines will finally get the scientific investigation they deserve ~
1
Just like with tobacco and the tobacco industry, we can be sure that new research elucidating the toxic etiology of autism will be suppressed, dismissed, or countered by industry for many years. And our government, as is will have the backs of industry until the damages become so overwhelming they are forced to blow the whistle. As has been said with most good ideas, "first they mock you, then they try to discredit you, then they say they knew you were right all along." Such is the nature of progress.
5
"The other way more generally to limit the effect of these chemicals on the brain is healthy diet and particularly iodine,” to protect the thyroid, Dr. Trasande said, since hypothyroidism, both in children and in mothers, is emerging as a possible contributing factor to autism. And after a child is born, “we can make sure families are eating healthier diets and having the best possible environment for raising their children.”
Let's see, between gutting the EPA, and the anti-abortion crowd who only cares about the unborn child, good luck with that.
8
How can this article not mention the famous baby tooth studies that helped limit nuclear testing in 1960s and are still used to monitor strontium-90 (and more)? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Tooth_Survey
3
And so starts slow-walk down lane of opioid use/abuse discouragement.
Do these doctors realize just how dangerous their research is?
.
By associating toxins to Autism they are pouring lighter fluid on the smoldering fire of the anti-vaxers. These are people who would rather their child die, than be like mine (I am the father of a child on the Spectrum - which everyone knows is predominantly Genetic in origin).
.
Please: if you are a doctor and reading this: by all means, study toxins and abnormalities in children. But be careful. Drop the false links to Autism. Your research will be much more fruitful.
3
"....which everyone knows is predominantly Genetic in origin)"
"...Please: if you are a doctor and reading this: by all means, study toxins and abnormalities in children. But be careful. Drop the false links to Autism..."
How ridiculous. No need for any research because you have all the answers already. Any research that does not confirm what you know and would like to believe is 'dangerous'.
5
@ZAW Spectrum? What spectrum? Red light vs. blue light?
Re: Folic Acid an Autism
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5704156/
Some studies indicate FA is protective.
1
@dilbert dogbert Folic acid protects against neural tube defects, and is recommended for pregnant women. Perhaps it protects against other neurological abnormailities? Evidence?
Thank God the Trump EPA has our backs on this! Undoubtedly they'll be right on the case to implement the necessary regulations to limit the population's exposure to potentially harmful industrial chemicals. And of course their policy decisions will be guided by peer reviewed science, as always...
17
The part about being hypothyroid during early pregnancy is very important--and doctors dismiss it. I was hypothyroid during the first trimester, the OB didn't believe me, but I insisted he check, and I was, which can affect brain development. Doctors don't even want to see many pregnant mothers until 8 weeks, and they don't listen to them when they do.
The US also uses different number to test thyroid--allowing the TSH to get much higher before treating than, say, Britain does.
16
I worked in a medical laboratory and for years had a T4, a common thyroid test done, and every year it was normal. Then I had a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) which showed I actually had hypothyroidism! Even though one test is normal, make sure you are getting the proper tests performed. VERY interesting info on UK TSH too, thank you.
2
You might want to do a bit of research on that pituitary hormone as things have changed over the past two decades.
The method of analyzing "shed baby teeth" for toxins is not new. In 1971, a colleague at Meharry Medical College undertook a study of this type to identify the presence of lead from paint chips in children living in Nashville housing projects. I did the posters to help him obtain the teeth (we paid donors around 50 cents apiece) using a slogan based on then-current slang, "The Tooth Fairy is Coming to Lay Some Bread on You". But that study was pretty straightforward, as the impact of lead poisoning is direct and unequivocal. Autism is an elusive chimera.
14
“... having a complicated pregnancy does increase your risk of a child having autism.”
It is not inconceivable that this correlation is connected to the large number of ultrasound examinations associated with complicated pregnancies. There is a good deal of evidence suggesting that high levels of ultrasound exposure in pregnancy, especially during the second trimester, may affect the developing fetal brain.
http://www.ultrasound-autism.org/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/michealene-cristini-risley/autism-ultraso...
16
I dunno but the "Health Science Consultant" has apparently a BA in English from a good university and no scientific credentials at all. And, BTB there is not a good deal of evidence that ultrasound causes ANYTHING in humans or fetuses. At least nothing that I can find.
That would suggest a 90% rate of autism. Environmental toxins sounds more logical.
It is insane that Republicans can speak of getting rid of regulations proudly, as if it is in any shape or form a good thing. Environmental regulations keep the planet and its people, including Republicans, safe and healthy. Scott Pruitt and his ilk just do not care about health and safety. Voters need to. Want healthy babies? Vote vote vote (and be careful what you eat and what is in your house).
51
Agree. It isn’t as though every Regulation is perfect, or that there cannot be improvements, or the particular regulations may not need to be brought back. All those things maybe true. But the idea of getting rid of regulation for the sake of getting rid of regulation is so ridiculously stupid it is hard to believe.
3
The incidence of Autism increased dramatically just after it was mandated that folic acid be added in the bread we eat. Obstetricians recommend pregnant women and those wishing to become pregnant take a folic acid (folate) supplement to prevent spina bifida. Ingesting folic acid in pill form and in our bread supply maybe giving some an overdose of this vitamin that effects neural development in the fetus. It happened in Australia, too. Europe does not allow folic acid to be added to flour and bread, but does recommend pregnant women take it as a supplement. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. Research vitamin overdose.
20
This is so interesting, and recalls research by Dr. William Walsh regarding the Zinc-Copper ratio and how crucial it is for those two chemicals to be in balance. Too much copper can result in autism, ADD and other behavioral problems. Serum blood testing for zinc and copper should be done for all children suffering from autism. This story reveals another method of unraveling the mystery of autism, and is fascinating - thank you!
11
Hmm; interesting story but there is also a much much larger 'back story' that has affected the healthy now of a generation going on two by means the analytical power of baby teeth stemming from the original
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Tooth_Survey led by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Reiss the "findings [of which] helped convince President John F. Kennedy to sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the United Kingdom and Soviet Union, which ended the above-ground testing of nuclear weapons that placed the greatest amounts of nuclear fallout into the atmosphere."
Intellectual authorship and credit where credit is due please -- to the unsung American scientific hero; Louise Reiss.
7
Can I just add a note about lawn care? Please don't get held hostage by landscapers or your roundup-happy spouse: tell them to PULL weeds up wherever they can instead of spraying weedkiller (and make sure spouse or landscaper wipes the mower blades before they mow your lawn! You don't want to bring weeds in from someone else's yard or spread them from a patch in your own yard.) Fertilizers and grass seed are easy to find organic - and a healthy thick lawn actually chokes out weeds (I'm not advocating lawns in drought areas). Pull weeds up right away, before they cover large areas. When we have let weeds go too far- I'll take a winter ice chopper and cut out that section of the lawn, reseed and water as opposed to using weedkiller.
For plants from tomatoes to roses, we love a spray called Safer - it works far better then the chemical pesticides and fungicides our old landscaper used - and we also plant marigolds and peppermint to help keep out some of the bad bugs that don't like the scent.
61
We continue to ignore the short and long term effects of the toxins we pollute our air, our food, our water with. Now our EPA head says he doesn’t buy into the climate change evidence. Until the Luddites are banished from making wide reaching decisions for us, we will continue to have to deal with these challenges.
49
Just today the NYT informs us that the EPA is once again allowing the production of super polluter trucks in high numbers. It seems like the title EPA comes right out of 1984.
2
Testing baby teeth for toxic exposures is not new, as the article seems to suggest. It was pioneered by Herbert Needleman, MD and colleagues in 1972 to show lead poisoning. He was a pediatrician in Philadelphia who spent his entire career fighting to reveal the truth about the damage of environmental lead exposure on children’s developing brains. The lead industry sought to undermine his work in order to continue to profit while poisoning the environment. Ultimately, his and his colleagues efforts are the reason that we have unleaded gasoline and lead free paint today.
54
Testing baby teeth for hazardous substances actually started in the late 1950s-early 60's with assays for strontium 90 in the teeth of St. Louis children, from atmospheric atom bomb testing in western states, with radioactive particles drifting to Midwest fields. "By 1961, the survey was collecting 750 teeth a week. That year, Louise published her findings in the peer-reviewed journal Science. A simple chart told the story: Children born in 1954 had four times as much strontium-90 in their teeth as those born in 1951" see St. Louis Magazine Sept., 2013
10
To prove her libertarian bonafides, twenty years ago my pregnant sister-in-law told me during my visit to the midwest how much she loved "spraying weed killer" on their acres and acres of soybean fields. My nephew is autistic, one of three in my family.
24
Dr. Klass has done parents a tremendous service by "burying the lede" here. Her first four paragraphs are so important in allaying the fears and the guilt parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders feel. There is likely never to be a single cause of these disorders discovered and, once elucidated, those causes will prove to be outside of the control of parents. Parents have enough to cope with without the added burden of guilt.
30
From the NYT yesterday, "the Environmental Protection Agency moved on Friday to effectively grant a loophole that will allow a major increase in the manufacturing of a diesel freight truck that produces as much as 55 times the air pollution as trucks that have modern emissions controls.
The move by the E.P.A. came after intense lobbying by a small set of manufacturers that sell glider trucks, which use old engines built before new technologies significantly reduced emissions of particulates and nitrogen oxide that are blamed for asthma, lung cancer and other ailments."
Please vote Democratic in 2018 and 2020 - poisoning our babies, our seniors and everyone in between can NOT be a platform that we support.
179
When I go into Walmart or Home Depot or Lowe's or many other stores there are rows and rows of pesticides for sale to the General Public. even if you try to maintain a pesticide-free property it's impossible with your neighbor dumping all manners of pesticides right next door to you.As far as buying food goes , the consumer has no idea of what kind of pesticides and what quantities are lurking on the food he buys. and these days the regulatory agent that's supposed to protect us, the EPA, is under the control of the chemical corporations. most consumers have no clue as to just how damaging and dangerous the use of these commercially available chemicals are to the environment and People's Health.
83
Just assume they are all bad and seek alternatives.
15
I think when researchers figure out what causes autism, I will learn what affected the region of my daughter’s brain that causes her extreme sensitivity to taste, smell and food textures. Sounds annoy her and her eyes water w/ exposure to sunlight, but these reactions are mild, not as profound as her sensitivity to taste/smell.
Ridiculously extreme sensitivity at work w/ these specific senses, but not in the emotional region of her brain. As a small child and now at age 15, her Emotional EQ was/is stellar.
Her taste/smell sensitivity was clearly inborn. My baby girl reacted violently to baby foods I offered her-
pushing or slamming them away. There were about 4 flavors of baby food she would eat, and she had terrible colic as a baby. Had to take her to ER several times for her desperate screams of stomach pain.
The result of her “super tasting”is that she is 5 feet but we can’t seem to get her to stay over 80 pounds. Not anorexic, though. She loves the few foods she eats and eats them w/ relish over and over. And she can taste flavors/ spices in foods that many people cannot identify.
We know the answer for her condition is out there somewhere, and I bet it’s related to autism.
17
Sensory Processing Disorder is a comorbid condition of ASD, but kids have it without the Autism too. Both of my kids had SPD, but only one is on the spectrum.
17
Your daughter may be a “super taster” - she can work for food manufacturers in this capacity. It’s a real thing!
12
Have you tested your daughter's Vitamin D level (some DNA mutations can suggest a need for more Vitamin D)? Once we added Vitamin D, our son was able to maintain weight and started to grow. Just a thought from one parent to another...
1
The European Union is far more advanced than the Unite States in terms of applying the Precautionary Principle in their regulations. When there is uncertainty, they build in a safety factor. Here, we place profit over safety. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for example, warns of the danger of making regulatory decisions based on anything except absolute certainty. They, like many other anti-regulatory bodies, falsely imply that scientific uncertainty is cause for not getting in the way of profit. Uncertainty is a condition in all fields of science, and the merchants of doubt use it well. A concerted effort among scientists, lawyers and journalists to educate citizens on the proper role of uncertainty in decision making would do well to protect future generations.
69
No worries. Scott Pruitt will be sure that our air and water and building materials are clean. That's his job, right?
And Donald's deregulations are never going to come back to bite us, right?
55
"Pesticides and flame retardants."
So tell me why this isn't on the front page, next to an article about the Current Occupant's most recent rollback of environmental protections?
127
Yes! Yes! YES!!
14
The number of people on the autistic spectrum has increased, but not as greatly as many people think. Many, especially women, were never diagnosed or were misdiagnosed in the past, so the official counts were lower than the reality. The label Asperger came about during the thirties in Germany. During his reign of terror, Hitler rounded up and killed autistic and other mentally and physically challenged children that he and his cronies perceived as useless wastes of resources, which so often seems to be forgotten when people recall the victims of that horrific time. Dr. Asperger saved a few boys because he thought some of the higher functioning autistics could be taught to be useful.
My extended family has had multiple members with autism within its span, ranging from scientific PhDs to a MBA to my beautiful little ten year boy who knows how to love and be happy. I’m very appreciative of the kind people in the world who treat people on the spectrum with decency and respect, like most of my fellow posters on this topic. I hope the poster who openly wished for a whole category of humans to be wiped away with genetic testing will sit down again with her post, replace the word ‘autism’ with ‘homosexuality’ or ‘gender identity disorder’ and think some more about what she wrote. Personally, I believe in welcoming diversity and the gifts it brings.
67
Blah, blah, blah. How do you explain it when one child is autistic and their siblings are not? Same environment, same meals, same airconditioning, same everything. If it is true that the autistic child metabolizes certain chemicals differently, maybe that means that the child’s metabolism is different. Maybe autism causes changes in the metabolism, and not the other way around. In other words, the chemicals are not causing changes in the body. The body is causing a different use of the chemicals.
15
Yes I’ve had this same thought about anemia! My brother is on the scale and his been anemic his whole life. I saw a study that mothers with anemia are more likely to have autistic babies and autistic kids more likely to be anemic. Made me wonder if anemia was the symptom, not the cause.
2
Unless the pregnancy is referring to twins, and only one twin is autistic, one cannot state that exposure is the same, there are far too many daily factors one cannot control for. We go to different places, we eat different food, from different sources. We wear different clothes. We buy different things for our home. Our car may be years older and no longer emitting that same level of gases in the interior that it did when it was new for example (ever notice the film on interior windows of new cars?)Etc... Just because the same woman is pregnant does create a control group. Our exposure to everything is constantly changing.
38
Nice that the article points out that individual action/responsibility will not get us out of the pollutant swamp. And yet the only advice that can be given is for individual mothers to "avoid" certain things, many of which are ubiquitous in our environment. As long as responsibility remains at the individual level nothing can be changed and no children can be saved from a life characterized by a natal defect/syndrome. This is a money thing. Those who benefit from the willy-nilly splattering of toxic chemistry simply will not allow any meaningful change. This seems to be our legacy, this inability to collectively manage ourselves. Always it comes down to a few with money and influence making sure that the rest of us cannot make any meaningful improvements to our situation. This thing _is_ going to sort itself out - somehow. We might not like the "solution" though.
63
The article mentions twice eating organic foods to reduce pesticide ingestion. Please try to clarify for readers that organic produce can be and is grown with pesticides. The requirement is for the pesticide not be "synthetic".
36
Thanks Peri Klass for this interesting article. I take issue with the headline writers for falsely portraying the tooth study as showing an environmental risk factor for autism. As stated in the text of the article, what the study reveals is a possible difference in the way the metabolism of autistic babies handles metals; theres no reason to avoid copper, it's an essential nutrient.
We can all agree that we are now swimming in a human generated sea of unnatural chemicals, some of which have negative impacts on human health.
The danger of touting environmental exposure's association with autism is that the studies do not demonstrate causality. The decades old vaccine theory, now thoroughly debunked, took a huge toll on autistic children and their families by diverting money from established treatments to snake oil profiteers, not to mention the toll of illness on unvaccinated children.
The reality is that we will ultimately probably establish some environmental contributors to autism, but the central pathology will likely be genetic.
(I am a doctor who raised an autistic son.)
56
Agree and the article was horribly written to push the environmentalist agenda when the story is about metabolism of these substances. The editors should be mortified.
1
Epigenetics. Yes, genetic underpinnings but environmental triggers. Same concern with autoimmune disorders.
So, Moni, you missed the point. We can't change genetics, but we CAN minimize the environmental triggers. So the "environmentalist agenda" you dismiss is the one that cares to protect human health. Just common sense risk avoidance and prioritization of quality of life over greed.
9
As far as I know, no "smoking gun" has been found among the vast number of chemicals we're exposed to every day. I suspect there are 1000s of different combinations of chemicals, at exactly the worst time, in concert with individual genetics, that may be involved. This is very, very hard to study. Add to this the huge number of phenotypes that are lumped in as "autism" and things get even more depressing. I still have hope that, with continued funding of research, we'll gain some important hints on what things to change or avoid. Do any cultures with low levels of autism exist? Perhaps study of them would be helpful. Importantly, we should all fight again the pseudoscience that proclaims they "know" the cause and teach people to critically review the existing data.
15
Does anyone consider that mercury and other metals build up in a person's body over time and generations and is then passed on to the developing child. Any toxin that a mother takes in during pregnancy would just be another tiny increment in the process. (The mercury that used to be in vaccine preservatives was just enough to push the baby over the edge into autism.) Toxins and metals being passed down through families resemble a genetic cause but it's a toxic legacy at fault. Is the explosion of disease due to our accumulating chemicals, metals, and toxins and passing the load on to our children? Yes.
6
How do you explain that even unvaccinated children get autism? https://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/no-mmr-autism-link-lar...
68
All of us are getting exposure to so many chemicals. I live in the suburbs now and just about every lawn is sprayed weekly with pesticides. Little yellow signs planted in the lawn warn people to stay off for 24 hours. However, as someone who walks the neighborhood with my dog 4 times a day I can tell you by the bitter odor and my physical reaction, that these chemicals linger well beyond 24 hours. My landscaper also shared the horrible physical effects he and his crew have after a day of spraying.
I don't know if these lawn pesticides are related to autism or any disease specifically. I do know that I and many others feel ill when exposed, and they are completely unnecessary.
Since there is no law preventing homeowners from spraying their yards, we have no idea how much of this stuff is entering our bodies and our waterways or what it is doing to our children and wildlife. I often note the irony of suburbanites carrying bags of groceries from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, probably with organic foods, alongside their golf-course perfect lawns doused with poison.
Please, suburbanites, reconsider using chemicals. My lawn is a haven for bees and others, with clover, dandelion and lush grass---and no pesticides.
139
Thank you for having a chemical-free yard! I think what you mention is a huge, problem, actually. These are yards where children play and they are being sprayed with chemicals to look more "perfect." I also notice the smell lingering for a long time - I can even taste it - after people have their yard sprayed for mosquitos. At the very least there might be some health benefit to spraying for mosquitos (at least one could argue that), but for spraying lawns just to keep them nice... there's really no excuse.
7
Thanks, bk, I agree 100%. It's exactly the same in my neighborhood. actually, my dog now knows the word "poison" is why he can't go on most of the lawns in my neighborhood. it's so bad that we sometimes have to search for a yard where he can pee. And I have to rinse his feet after each walk, so that he doesn't ingest toxic residue if he licks his feet. I feel so bad for the birds, the bunnies, the chipmunks, and even the earthworms, who are poisoned by this toxic human vanity of my neighbors.
2
I would love to see laws strongly restricting consumer pesticide use, especially for something as frivolous as a lawn. Near-sighted libertarians will freak out, but human and environmental health would be so much better for it.
1
I work with kids with ASD and I have stopped caring out research like this. The reason? The more effort and time we spend on the figuring out causes of ASD and how to prevent it, the less time and effort we spend on how to help kids, teens and adults with ASD live better lives. Those studies are less attractive to researchers, as they are messy and complicated, just like the lives of kids, teens and adults on the spectrum. But helping kids already here is more critical. Plus, I believe that if we were able to eliminate ASD,we would lose something special. The kids I work with with ASD are creative, loving and smart. They add to the world. Why would anyone want to stop others like them from being born?
21
Kj: Actually more funds are spent on uncovering genetic etiologies and treatment or services for children who have ASD than studying environmental triggers. In the first decade of this century, NIH awarded $1.04 billion to understand risk factors for ASD; $1 billion was spent on genetics and $40 million (4%) was spent on environmental influences. I don't have comparable figures for treatment, but my experience as a child health researcher is that much more is spent on treatment and services. What fraction of our health dollars should be spent on treatment or genetics versus understanding environmental triggers that increase the chance that a child will be born with ASD? There isn't a right answer, but it should be ore than 4%. If we don't understand environmental triggers for ASD we can't prevent it. You can view our video about our failure to prevent diseases and disabilities even once we know about various risk factors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oioMOs3pvoU&t=3s
21
Reading the article carefully, you find no evidence that there is actually a relation between any environmental exposure and autism. Just a vague concern that there might be.
People used to eat from pewter utensils, containing copper. They don't any more, yet the rate of autism has gone up, not down.
Air pollution in American cities has been much reduced over the last 60 years. Yet diagnoses of autism have become much more common. If there is a relation at all, it is not as simple as "pollution causes autism".
15
@Jonathan Katz Pewter also used to contain lead, certainly toxic.
Now the difficult task - letting the young people in the family know about this without seeming to criticize them. Plastic baby bottles, plastic drinking cups, it never seems to end - this proliferation of chemicals surrounding us. What I am extremely grateful for is the use of baby teeth as a record of when the baby was exposed to various chemicals. I hope this holds up scientifically as a reliable record since it is such a sweet and tangible record of each baby's development.
14
We all are participants in experimental exposure to a modern chemical soup. There's more bisphenol A on the surface of many standard grocery-store receipts than there ever was in baby bottles. Synthetic fragrance molecules with known bio-accumulation (and transfer in breastfeeding) are often used in products labeled "paraben free". Our (U.S.) regulations are pathetic and consumer-driven changes often miss the forest for the trees.
1
Organic produce still uses pesticides.
13
But not those injurious to the human body or the environment.
To echo some prior comments it is hard to believe that in this era of personalized medicine, we are still talking about Autism as single entity. To even use the term spectrum is misleading as it evokes the idea of varying degrees of the disease. Childhood disorders of neuro-function must have origins as distinct as their symptoms. Lumping them together is standing in the way of right treatment reaching the right child. In some cases there should be no treatment such if a child speaks little as a 2 yr old but is a chatterbox by three. Some doctors are marching that child toward medications and therapy at the 2nd birthday.
17
I started writing something a little different then found your entry. I agree - I think we will at some point reach a point where there is a drastic change of approach in labeling so many behaviors as being autistic.
Maybe there is brain damage or interruption of normal growth because of external toxins, or mutations , or viruses, or other influences.
If themechanism can be identified, we may be able to change public policy to prevent harm from particular harmful substances ( as we have - or should have done - with lead).
Maybe others are, as some one below said, just alternative, but equally "normally" occurring " neurotypes."
Overuse to the term autism Spectrum seems to encourage blanket stereotyping by the public, and in schools. The condition is named - but without any assurance that the name tells us anything at all about the child's actual functioning.
1
The development of a prenatal test for autism would be the best thing that could happen for family planning.
10
And then what? Autism is a spectrum disorder which can manifest itself in many ways from person to person: from high functioning autism (formerly known as Asperger's) to severe autism in which a person is non-verbal and needs help with basic-day-to-day activities. Are you saying that no one with autism deserves a chance at life, or a chance to be successful
9
Prenatal testing of potential parents for the genetic components giving rise to autism would enable them to forego pregnancy altogether if they so wished. It is not eugenics as the autism community likes to screech about; it is planned parenthood, similar to parents who carry genes that cause sickle cell anemia who choose not have children in order to avoid creating a child with a horrible, painful disease. Clearly, once an autistic child has been born, then society will have to deal with it. No one is suggesting otherwise.
But if air pollution is a big factor, why isn't there a huge spike in autism cases among children living in some of the big cities in China, where the air is literally unbreathable? Instead all we hear from the media is how much brighter their kids are than our kids.
12
you cannot manage what you do not measure.
7
I don't see any mention of the already proven dangers of aluminum and mercury that are part of childhood vaccines. Kids get many more vaccines than they did twenty years ago and studies have shown high levels of aluminum in the brains of people with not only autism but Alzheimer's.
7
Nonsense. The levels of mercury in vaccines are insignificant, and dietary aluminum is not toxic. "Vaccines cause autism" was based on fraudulent research, and has been discredited.
130
They certainly are NOT proven. Those studies were fraudulent and have been throughly debunked. You do great danger by spreading such false information.
93
All things should be considered; even the pro-vaccine website "Immunize for Good" shows that in 1960, children by age 2 were given 8 shots, but by 2014, children by age 2 were given 26 shots - that's quite an increase in chemicals in very young children.
1
The headline "chemical exposure" is jarring when in fact, the article itself primarily discusses a study about exposure to 2 essential nutrients, copper and zinc, and recommends healthy doses of a third essential chemical, iodine. "Chemical exposure" rings of pollution, not fetal metabolism and nutrition during pregnancy. Clearly the author has taken great pains to be clear and sensitive.....it's a shame the headline writer hasn't been as well.
12
The article begins with a lengthy admonition about blaming mothers. Was someone going to blame mothers for the chemicals they've been exposed to? Did they choose to be exposed?
Or is that merely a way of deflecting blame from those people and companies that put those chemicals in their water, food, medicine and air?
We have, for too long, been exposing ourselves to new and novel chemicals without their being proven 'safe.' Rather, we continue to allow such exposure until they are proven harmful--and often continue even after proven harmful in order to avoid 'economic disruption.'
In the final analysis, isn't 'biological disruption' a bigger problem than economic disruption? Or are we just that short-sighted?
53
I think it's because once you start to suggest that environmental exposure causes something - like pesticides - then a lot of moms get up in arms, because it sounds to them like someone is accusing them of being responsible for their child's autism. Then the defensiveness pushes back against the research. I've seen that happen. So they are basically saying - if you don't eat organic produce, there is a greater chance your child will have autism, but if you don't eat organic, and your child has autism, it's not your fault. Which is true; there are many reasons for things, and that may not have been it. But still, on a population level, I think we do need to be more aware of the chemicals in our environment, and take some responsibility for avoiding them; this goes for cleaning supplies, yard chemicals, soaps/shampoos/lotions, laundry detergents... the average home is a chemical feast. (And when I say chemical, I mean synthetic chemicals that may have a negative impact on health, and many of which have already been shown to have a negative impact).
5
To some extent, I do place the blame with parents (not just mothers, obviously) exposing their children to unnecessary chemicals. The amount of synthetic fragrances in everyday products is mind-boggling; synthetic food coloring, pesticides, etc., add another burden of chemical load that most consumers don't think about. The problem is that you basically have to have a degree in chemistry to figure this out, and even "good" products can be misleading.
1
It's a mistake to lump all forms of autism together. There are many different conditions under that umbrella, and it's pretty evident that they don't all have the same biological underpinnings.
Milder forms are arguably not even disorders, per se, rather than less common operating systems for the organic computers we carry around in our skulls.
15
There are mentions of possible causes here, but no mention of the fact that autism is a neurotype is simply part of humanity. Can we reframe such discoveries in light of neurodiversity? This article treats it like a disease, full stop. Is there room for a more nuanced view of what autism is? Of course we want to better understand it, and address debilitating and limiting aspects of autism, but to reinforce the mindset that autism is something to be eliminated is to feed anti-vax fears, prejudice toward autistic people and ignorance of the contributions of autistic people.
25
Mentioned in the article is age of both mother and father. I think this will prove important in future studies. Women, in an attempt to have it all, have been delaying childbearing to establish careers. Men, in a quest for youth, have often chosen much younger women, who then want biological children. I think these trends may have some connection to autism and perhaps psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disease, all of which seem more prevalent today.
16
The link between schizophrenia and advanced paternal age has already been established. You have good instincts!
10
Baloney. My grandson is autistic and his parents were both in their mid-20’s when he was born.
6
It's quite clear that risk increases with parental age. But that's completely consistent with young parents having an autistic child. It's by now rather obvious that there's no one true cause of autism, only a large set of factors that make it more likely, some environmental and some genetic.
As an observer of life, people, their eating habits, etc. I have for a long time wondered if all the chemicals in "food like substances" that most Americans consume on a daily basis would be having a negative impact on people's biological makeup, what they consume and how it has an impact on their health, what they pass along to their children...blue eyes, curly hair and a tendency to diseases including autism...Of course, studies to determine such would be quashed by major "food manufacturers."
15
This is a direct conflict between public health and business interest. And we've seen how this plays out in the US. Unless we realign our priorities and start caring about human life and health (but I mean really caring, not only giving it lip service in political talking points but then voting on the side of Big Business), nothing is going to change. This country's problem is a lack of compassion, not a lack of information. We can have all the studies in the world pointing a direct finger at environmental chemicals for the cause of all kinds of ills, and still nothing would happen if we left it up to politicians and businesses to care. We the individual citizens need to vote them out and vote in people who care about us as humans, not only as consumers!
101
Maybe I missed it, but there’s no mention of the effects of indoor air pollution on the formation of tiny bodies, especially off-gassing of VOCs in floors, walls, mattresses, new furniture, and clothing with flame retardants, to name a few.
45
While the author mentions “chemical dust” and flame retardants in the second to last paragraph much more attention needs to be drawn to these issues.
13
"In 2017, the Consumer Products Safety Commission initiated a ban on the most toxic additives in foam products and electronics, and warned the public, particularly parents, to avoid buying new foam or electronic products that contain bromine- or chlorine-based flame retardants." from Bing search provider. So I waited till 2017 to buy a flame retardant free mattress where previously these toxins were added to polyurethane foam.
9
So true about off-gassing! That's high exposure to plasticizers (like phthalates) that are usually only tested for "typical" exposure levels -- that is, after the off-gassing phase.