New study: autism linked to environment

Yes, it is the armpit of environmental degradation in the contiguous US. And yes, there are lots and lots of autism cases in the NYC metro area. (There are floating land barges filled with garbage that cruise the Hudson, plastic bags daintily flapping in the wind like as if a socialite were waving goodbye to the world...) Anyway, in the CA cases, or any other, it could be non-point source, meaning, if it's an airborne pollutant that's responsible, the culprit could be from anywhere. There has also been talk of a virus being the cause in utero. And, from personal experience, one of my friends has an autistic child. It was from his first marriage which ended as she was a crystal meth/herion addict and used during pregnancy. There are soooo many factors involved.

I'm not sure if recover is the right word, but those with autism have seen improvement through therapy.

The verdict is out on this, but I would say that this is probably not true. Right now, there has been an increase in the amount of diagnoses of what are called autism spectrum disorders. These children do not necessarily have autism. Doctors have become so worried about missing the autism diagnosis because it has been shown that early therapy helps slow the progression of the disorder that they have begun diagnosing children who may just be slow developers in early childhood with an autism spectrum disorder. When these kids essentially grow out of this stage, it looks as though they have "recovered" from autism, even though this may not be the case. This is all speculative, however, and is part of the problem with autism.

As for environmental factors, this is yet another case where epigenetics plays a far bigger role than we ever knew. I do genetics research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where we have an excellent autism research group that has identified specific loci in the genome that have a high association with autism. It is not saying that these regions are the sole cause, but if a child with variation in these affected regions is exposed to certain environmental factors, changes in gene expression can trigger autism. This field of studying genetic regulation that is not associated with sequence, but instead with packaging of DNA (chromatic structure, methylation, etc.) has shown that our environment plays direct roles in disease manifestation. Needless to say, this is an extremely interesting finding by this group at Cal and it is one that will surely help lead to uncovering the cause of autism.

never recover, but there is the potential to maximize abilities and learn to compensate so as to live a happier and more productive life.

omg_tj00n,

this would nicely fit with the latest finds in epi-genetics indeed.

Metals & heavy metals seem to wreak havoc in the brain so from a generation to the other this could possibly explain the role of aluminum in Alzheimer & Parkinson or maybe mercury in autism...

http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=99

http://www.vaccinationnews.com/DailyNews/July2001/AutismUniqueMercPoison.htm

If this is man made disaster, we should expect an amazing level of resistance & a whole lot of pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo and finger pointing in different directions from the potentially involved corporations as in the awful tobacco case.

Agreed. We have already seen this stuff start. I mean, there has been a constant assault on vaccinations and their involvement in autism, which is a load of crap. It's amazing that people still believe that thimerosal is responsible when it's not used at all in childhood vaccines. There is really no evidence at all linking childhood vaccination to autism and it's an irresponsible claim to make since it is far more dangerous for both your child and the public to avoid vaccinations than to get them over the fear of autism. That being said, it's really good to see a move toward exploration of epigenetic triggers of human disease. In the end, I think we will find that this plays a role in each and every genetic disease that we see. With the disease my lab studied, Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, we see a wide spectrum of disease severity even in children with the same mutation in the same gene. It is possible that there are other sequence related phenotypic modifiers, but I suspect that epigenetic modeling plays a large role in this spectrum. Autism is probably going to shape up the same way. I still have hope that we will find a sequence related genetic cause, and with these association studies that have identified regions correlated with the disease, we're on the right track. Until then, early intervention and therapy is the key and it is good to see so many people devoting effort toward this problem.

There is no official "recovery" for a developmental disability. Autism is one of 5 categories of such, but all share the concept that it will last indefinitely- at least, that's how it is now. However, I can speak from experience that therapeutic approach and creative communication go a long way in how someone can adapt and live in the world no matter what disability they have.

I'm not sure I'm ready to close the book on mercury poisoning for it seems weird that one of the most virulent poison on earth would have absolutely NO effect on our fragile organism ;)

In the case of vaccines, it is one perfect example where the sheer amount of info, dis-info, spin & propaganda on bothe sides renders almost impossible for the uninvolved citizen to clearly see through it all.

Thiomersal controversy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomersal_controversy

David Ayoub MD - Thimerosal Definite Cause Of Autism
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00089.htm

Thiomersal and autism
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Thiomersal#Thiomersal_and_autism

The problem with this is that the people claiming that vaccines are the cause have essentially anecdotal evidence, which means nothing. Their logic is that "my kid didn't have autism and then got vaccinated and now has autism." This means nothing. The evidence against this theory is actual peer-reviewed scientific studies. That David Ayoub guy is a diagnostic radiologist. He essentially has nothing to do with development, neurology, or autism. There's a reason his info is on the internet and not in well-respected, peer-reviewed journals. I searched for him on PubMed and found 7 articles. 5 of them are related to radiology and the other 2 are related to a study on delivering influenza vaccine to pregnant women that was in a journal I've never heard of. That's the problem. People see that guys like that are an MD and assume that they know what they're talking about. But so are those people who sell those diet pills on TV and the guy who sells Extenze. Just because you're a doctor, it doesn't mean that you know stuff. The reason I put up so much resistance to this is that it's a dangerous, unsubstantiated claim that takes the focus away from the real problem and causes at hand. The general public doesn't understand complex science, so they seem to think we're always pulling the wool over their eyes and it's just not the case. I understand that people want answers, but the proof is in the scientific evidence. Vaccines are not the cause. According to a paper published by the American College of Medical Toxicology,

"Recent research has confirmed that the ethylmercury component found in Thimerosal is less hazardous than methylmercury. These are different compounds and should not be considered as equivalent neurotoxins. Experimental conditions can be created that result in neurological cell dysfunction [10,11]. However, current literature supports the contention that childhood vaccinations do not deliver a sufficient dose to produce these neurological
injuries.
Several large epidemiological studies have been completed in an attempt to clarify the issue of childhood immunizations and the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders. The CDC reviewed computer-based vaccination records and ICD-9 codes of autistic spectrum disorders for over 124,000 infants at two health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in California [12]. In 2003, a published comparison of imputed thimerosal dose in Sweden, Denmark and the United States found no correlation with the rise in prevalence of autism spectrum disorders occurring in all three countries [13]."

There are many more scientific studies such as these that I'd be happy to dig back up and pass along to anyone interested.

Yes they can. My first serious girlfriend was an autistic. While you can never be cured many high functioning autistics can live normal or exceptional lives. I also had a close friend who was a high functioing autistic. The aclaimed author Piers Anthony has Aspergers which is related to high functioning autism. I wrote a letter to him containing the first chapter of my girlfriends book about her experience with autism and he opened up to her about his own experiences. It was very moving.