With my introduction to the wolrd of autism a few years back came a slurry of rather disturbing information. First is the extreme rise over the past 30 years, then the attempt to find causation and treatments. From 1993 to 2003 autism diagnoses increased 800%. The million, make that billion, dollar question: “what is causing this increase?”. While much is disagreed upon in the autism community one theory leads the way and that is that autism is like cancer. That is a genetic predisposition component and environmental triggers that can result in something along the pervasive developmental disorder continuum.
What are these environmental triggers? With cancer we know of many carcinogens, with autism it seems fitting to look at known neurotoxins: mercury, lead, various pesticides, endocrine disruptors, and the like. The science and research is still very young (and underfunded) which leaves many unknowns.
If you spend enough time in the research and looking at the numbers it can be a really frightening scenario especially for those about to start a family. The choices that a parent has to make seem to be getting more and more difficult maneuvering through baby bottles, crib mattresses, vaccines, food, personal care products, toys, and even the clothes we bring them home in. While it can be a little startling at first, we as a society have left things unchecked for too long and a little forethought is worth a lifetime of health.
About a month ago I ran into this article on endocrine disrupting chemicals (e.,g. BPA) by Dr. Harvey Karp which draws some conclusions as to their possible roles in autism.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harvey-karp/cracking-the-autism-riddl_b_221202.html
