Environmental Causes of Autism - It Is Time To Get The Research Done

The new UC Davis Mind Institute study indicating the likelihood of environmental factors in the dramatic increases in autism cases in California is a step forward in the still developing autism research paradigm shift that investigates autism disorders and their causes from the perspective that autism is caused by a combination of environmental influence and genetic vulnerabilities:

Autism research is poised for another paradigm shift, from an irreversible condition to a treatable disease. In the revolutionary paradigm, autism is not a rare disorder with a constant rate but frequent condition with a rising incidence. It is a combination of environmental influence and genetic vulnerabilities. It is both preventable and treatable, not by any one method but by a combination of behavioral and biomedical approaches. Autistic kids are not defective, they are sick but otherwise normal kids, and thus, recoverable. 

University of Minnesota, Press Release, July 2007

The move to a combined environmental-genetic research model seems to be long overdue. The vaccine-autism controversy may well have pushed public authorities away from possible environmental causes of autism generally but it is difficult to understand why anyone ever assumed that autism is entirely genetically determined. In a December 2007 interview piece published on TimesOnLine, Freedom of Expression, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen made the following salient observiation:

Studies of twins have established that it is not 100 per cent genetic, since even among identical twins, when one has autism, the likelihood of both twins having autism is only about 60 per cent. This means there must also be an environmental component, but what it is remains unknown. 

The vaccine-autism controversies have generated entrenched positions and ideologies on all sides of those controversies.  One of the unfortunate tendencies has been a tendency to berate and ridicule any mention of possible environmental causes of autism disorders. Another has been a focus on genetic research to the near exclusion of environmental factors.  That has begun to change, as called for in the University of Minnesota 2007 press release but the change is not as fast as it could be.  

The vaccines we give children still contain the mercury based preservative thimerosal, according to the FDA web site and children are exposed to a variety of toxic materials in toys and jewelry including mercury, lead, and arsenic.  If specific environmental factors are causing or contributing to autism, whether in isolation, or in concert, then preventative measures can be taken and research into curing autism can, and should,  incorporate those factors.

It is time to drop the rigid, ideological belief that autism is 100% genetic and get the environmental research done to help our children.

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This Holiday Season Check Out HealthyToys.org

I commented yesterday on Autism and Lead Poisoning and the possibility that lead may be associated with the autism crisis, the startling increase in cases of autism for which most North American states and provinces remain woefully ill prepared.

While lead poisoning MAY be connected with autism development further research is required to confirm any such connection. There is no doubt, however, that lead is harmful, it is dangerously harmful, particularly to young children, and it is still contained in many children's toys and jewelry items. Parents this holiday season will find it very helpful to check out HealthyToys.org a project of the Ecology Center. I found these sites via One Special Place for Parents of Kids and Adults with special needs a blog site which I also recommend.

The EcologyCenter and HealthyToys.org issued a press release on December 3 which states in part:

The Ecology Center determined that one-third of the toys they tested had "high" or "medium" levels of chemicals of concern this year. Lead was found in 20 percent of the toys tested, including 54 products (3.5 percent) that exceeded the 600 parts per million (ppm) state legal limit set last year and 164 (10.7 percent) above the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended ceiling of 40 ppm. Children's jewelry remains the most contaminated product category.

... Researchers tested for chemicals that have been associated with reproductive problems, developmental and learning disabilities, hormone problems and cancer, and that have been identified by regulatory agencies as problematic. Babies and young children are the most vulnerable populations because their brains and bodies are still developing, and because they frequently put toys into their mouths. The testing was conducted with a screening technology — the portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer — that identifies the elemental composition of materials on or near the surface of products. Highlights from the HealthyToys.org 2008 findings: * Lead is Still in Toys — HealthyToys.org found lead in 20 percent of all the products tested this year. When children are exposed to lead, the developmental and nervous system consequences can be irreversible. The Healthy Michigan, Healthy Kids platform calls for implementing the American Academy of Pediatrics threshold level of 40 ppm for toys sold in Michigan. * It's Not Just Lead — HealthyToys.org found that 2.9 percent, or 45 products, had bromine at concentrations of 1,000 ppm or higher. This indicates the likely, unnecessary use of brominated flame retardants — chemicals that may pose hazards to children's health. HB 4465, pending in the state House, would severely restrict the use of one type of brominated flame retardant. Arsenic was detected at levels greater than 100 ppm in 22, or 1.4 percent, of products; 289 (18.9 percent) of products contained detectable levels of arsenic. Mercury was found above 100 ppm in 14 (1 percent) of products; 62 (4.2 percent) of products contained detectable levels of mercury. The Healthy Michigan, Healthy Kids platform calls for no more than 40 ppm of mercury or arsenic in children's products.

...

Jewelry — Jewelry remains the most contaminated product category tested. Children's jewelry was five-times more likely to contain lead above 600 ppm than other products tested by HealthyToys.org.

HealthyToys.org has several pages of helpful information for people buying toys and jewelry this holiday season including several pages of toy rankings by brand, type, best toys and worst toys. Toys listed on the best toys page had no detectable traces of Lead, Cadmium, Chlorine, Arsenic, Mercury, Antimony, Tin, Bromine, or Chromium in any components tested. Toys listed on the worst toys page are those found to contain lead, brominde, cadmium, arsenic or mercury.

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Possible Environmental Causes of Autism and Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Autism rates have changed significantly since my son was diagnosed 10 years ago. At that time it was common to read estimates ranging from 1 in 500 to 1 in 1000. But the estimates started changing to 1 in 250, then 1 in 166 and now 1 in 150. In the UK the figure currently used is 1 in 100. There are many today who believe that changes in the definition of autism introduced in the DSM-IV combined with diagnostic substitution explain the dramatic increases in autism disorder diagnoses. But the advocates of this theory really have no solid studies providing precise measurements to substantiate the belief that the autism increases are all largely changes in how we view autism rather than actual increases in incidents of autism.

The definition change believers seem to be on solid ground to the extent that they argue that such change is a substantial contributing factor to the increases in autism diagnoses. They seem to stretch their belief beyond reason though when they assert dogmatically that the increases are due entirely to these social factors and rule out any environmental increases. The well known identical twins studies show that, in some cases, one identical twin will receive an autism diagnosis but the other will not, suggesting a role for environmental factors in autism causation.

In Neurodevelopmental Disorders in ChildrenAutism and ADHD Mona Sethi Gupta, Ph.D. examines environmental factors that may disrupt neurological development including lead, mercury, PCBs, dioxins, arsenic and toluene. Dr. Gupta discusses some studies suggesting environmental contributors to increasing neurodevelopment problems among children who are more sensitive to environmental toxins than adults and reminds us of the thalidomide tragedy. Dr. Gupta notes emphasizes the importance of taking action to protect children from environmental toxins:

"The impact of environmental toxins on children’s health has become a major focus in the federal government resulting in establishment of eight new research centers in children’s environmental health with joint funding from EPA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). "The brains of our children are our most precious economic resource, and we haven't recognized how vulnerable they are," says Philippe Grandjean, adjunct professor at Harvard School of Public Health and the lead author of the study published in The Lancet . "We must make protection of the young brain a paramount goal of public health protection. You have only one chance to develop a brain.""

There are those who argue dogmatically that environmental factors are not involved in causing autism and that the startling autism increases are due entirely to definition change and diagnostic substitution. They may honestly believe their assertions or they may be tied to promotion of book royalties or blog site advertising but modern history, thalidomide, tobacco and cancer, suggest greater caution in ruling out all environmental contributors to autism and other developmental disorders. Our children deserve better than for society to rely on the faith and belief of dogmatists on such important issues.

Note:

TheFreeDictionary

dog·ma·tist

1. An arrogantly assertive person.

2. One who expresses or sets forth dogma.

Noun

1.

dogmatist - a stubborn person of arbitrary or arrogant opinions

doctrinaire

drumbeater, partisan, zealot - a fervent and even militant proponent of something

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