PRODUCT LIABILITY RELATED INJURY

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Study Of Autism Links With Air Pollutants

Product Liability > Hazardous Materials

July 14, 2006

San Francisco, CA - According to a study by the California Department of Health Services, children with autism disorders in the San Francisco Bay Area were 50% more likely to be born in neighborhoods with high amounts of several toxic air contaminants, particularly mercury.

Gayle Windham, the lead researcher and senior epidemiologist in the department's environmental health investigations branch, says that it is 'a single small study' and 'a first look' at whether toxic pollutants are linked to the neurological disorder.

Dr. Isaac Pessah, a toxicologist who heads Center for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention at the University of California at Davis believes that there may be correlations between autism and environmental exposures, especially to metal exposures.

Dr. Pessah, who was not involved in the study, is also a researcher at the university's MIND (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute, which studies autism.

The study by the California Department of Health Services found that the children with the autism disorders were 50% more likely to be born in areas with higher estimated levels of three metals: mercury, cadmium, nickel and two chlorinated solvents: trichloroethylene and vinyl chloride. The national autism rate is six children per 1,000.

The biggest increase came with heavy metals including mercury, a pollutant from power plants, factories and mines that can disrupt brain development.

Autism is believed to start in the womb, early in pregnancy, when the brain develops. Genetic factors determine who is susceptible, but experts theorize that environmental factors contribute.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University's School of Public Health are conducting a similar study in the Baltimore area to see if they replicate the findings.

 
 
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